Mauldin Businessman Concerned About Immigration Bill

When Governor Nikki Haley signed the immigration bill known as SB 20 into law last month South Carolina joined Arizona, Georgia and Texas as the states with the strictest immigration laws in the country.

Though the federal government is charged with making and enforcing immigration law, the burden of immigration costs occur at the local level. And being that Congress has tabled substantive immigration legislation while they tackle economic issues, states have been taking matters into their own hands in recent months.

But some critics say the laws passed at the state level, such as the one Haley signed, encourage racial profiling. Under the South Carolina law, local law enforcement officers would be allowed to check the citizenship status of a suspect during an arrest or traffic stop. SB 20 is certain to be appealed, as have the other states’ immigration bills. In fact, although 26 states have immigration bills in various stages of the legislative process, none have been implemented. They have either been overturned or put on hold while they are being appealed.

For obvious reasons, the immigration issue has attracted interest for its legal and political ramifications. But, a local business owner thinks the economic aspects should not be overlooked.

Wilfredo Leon, owner of the Mauldin-based Latino newspaper, said that, although SB 20 would not become law until January 1, its impact is already being felt.

“Latino business-owners are already seeing a downturn,” he said. Because the Latino population of Mauldin is overwhelmingly Mexican, Mexican-owned businesses are the ones being damaged the most.

Pat Pomeroy, Executive Director of the Mauldin Chamber of Commerce said her members have been quiet since the bill’s passing. “No one has said anything about (SB 20) to me, either positively or negatively,” Pomeroy said.

Leon said that Latinos are fearful. “All they hear are rumors about what’s happened in other states.”

He said that many of the Latinos he has spoken to have a job and their children are established in school, but they are fearful of being pulled over and questioned. “They have a difficult decision to make and a lot of them are making the decision to leave.”

Leon believes that the immigration issue is primarily an economic one, an example of the problems of the larger society being animated locally.

He also understands the anger toward undocumented workers and the employers who hire them, but also believes there is a lack of understanding in the general public about the issue.

It is Leon’s opinion that the overwhelming number of Latinos would like to become citizens but the process is simply too cumbersome from both the employee and employers perspective. Above and beyond the mountain of paperwork are fees that can reach $8,000.

“People want to work but they know they have to present proper documentation.” Leon said. Achieving that documentation can be a challenge for both an employee and an employer. The Department of Commerce has set up a system, according to Leon, that allows for a work visa. The problem, he said, is that the system simply is not practical. Employers must demonstrate that an open position can only be filled by someone who does not live in the United States. Employees must have a sponsor. The job must be formally advertised. It’s a significant undertaking just for one employee, so many do not even bother

The H1B program, which caps permits at 65,000 per year is one that Leon believes has worked. The H1B has been maligned from both the employer and employee standpoint, but in terms of making it easier to be in the country legally, Leon deemed it successful.

As flawed as the immigration system is in this country, Leon said, a lot of people benefit from it, not least of which are consumers who are used to low prices. But those low prices, especially in the produce aisle of the grocery store, may go away with many of the undocumented farm workers.

According to Leon, some farmers in the Upstate are already seeing a shortage of workers and that has resulted in a spike in things like lettuce and peaches.

But the larger economic issue is one of employment. Leon believes a large-scale trend in the labor force is happening right now in the country, as well as in the Upstate and in Mauldin.

Over the last 25 years, perhaps longer, jobs in warehouses, mills and factories have all but dissipated. They’ve been sent to China or some other Third World country.  The types of workers who filled those jobs in the past are not qualified for jobs in high-tech industries. But they also do not take the jobs that undocumented workers are quick to snap up.

“Their level of sophistication is above what is needed for the agricultural and construction jobs that Latinos will take,” Leon said.

Furthermore, most laborers cannot take a low-paying job because it will not even pay enough for him to support himself. But for a Latino worker who is living with several other family members earning a similar amount, the pay is enough when it’s pooled.

The loss of high-paying jobs for semi-skilled workers has a secondary effect. All those workers went to restaurants and needed their houses cleaned and bought flowers for their wives. So service businesses have also scaled back or vanished entirely, which reduces the amount of jobs available in another sector.

Leon believes that the best solution to the immigration question is for the US to partner with the home countries of immigrants and incentivize them to stay home and help build their own economy. The economies of Latin American nations Brazil and Peru have boomed in recent years. But Leon acknowledges there is little political will in the country right now to spend money to help other countries solve their problems.

"We need a solution,” Leon said. “We have millions of people living in the shadows and that can’t continue.”

Immigrants are a part of America and always will be, he said.

“People come here from another country to have a better life. That’s always been true. Once people get established, the generation that has moved here is very patriotic and the next generation is even more patriotic.”

Those high-minded ideals don’t help many Latinos who must make a decision about their future.

“I tell folks to be calm. I tell them that the law is on their side,” Leon said. “Other immigration laws have been overturned.”