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How ICE Picks Its Targets in the Surveillance Age:
The winter after Donald Trump was elected president, strangers began appearing in a parking lot on southern Washington State's Long Beach Peninsula, at the port where the oyster boats come and go. Rather than gaze at the bay or the boats or the building-size piles of bleached shells, two men — one thinner, one thicker — stared at the shellfish workers. The strangers sat in their vehicle and watched the workers arrive in their trucks. They watched the workers grab their gear and walk to the docks. The workers watched them watching, too, and they soon began to realize that the men were from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. When the workers made eye contact, the officers nodded politely, but they said very little. For weeks, they just watched. Then the workers began to vanish.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday October 08 2019, @10:56PM (16 children)
hiring them on with fake SSNs and names
They have to! Otherwise people start asking questions... Gangsters come in and tell them how many they gotta hire. This is just how business is done. People shouldn't be so nosy!
/s
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday October 08 2019, @11:49PM (15 children)
Gangsters? Citations needed, unless you're referring to hiring quotas established by the government.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday October 09 2019, @12:24AM (14 children)
Right, gangsters leave a lot of evidence lying around, you know, because they really do want to get caught.
But yeah, come to think it, quotas do provide a nice cover.
These people hire illegals for a reason. The mob brings them in on the back of the truck. They pay their tributes and stay out of jail, just like the kid selling bootleg cigarettes in front of the factory gate. Human trafficking is big money, even in the USA.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday October 09 2019, @12:34AM (13 children)
I'm leaving for work right now, or I'd explore that further. In my experience, in my reading, I've never run across an instance of legitimate businesses being extorted to hire illegals. It always seems to be the choice of the business to hire that cheap labor.
All of the illegals that I have met have entered this country of their own free will. When they crossed the border, they were free to go their own way, and decide where they would apply for work. You seem to be referring more to illicit businesses such as whore houses, sweat shops, and such. The idea is intriguing - but I gotta get moving right now.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Reziac on Wednesday October 09 2019, @02:45AM (12 children)
This is how it was explained to me by a contractor in SoCal who used illegals: He paid them cash under the table, and to keep them showing up on time, he paid them *more* than he would have paid legal workers. How could he do that? Because 70% of the cost of legal workers in CA is crap paid to the state, mandatory benefits, etc. So even tho he could not deduct their wages for tax purposes (being as noted under the table) he was still ahead of what it would have cost him to hire legal workers and for every $10/hour, pay another $20/hour to the state. (Yes, it really is that high in CA.) Better to pay $15/hour, get a better grade of worker, and save himself money, and make his workers happier. (Wouldn't you rather have that extra cash in your pocket instead of it being siphoned off by the state?) Meanwhile, because these workers ARE illegal, they won't gripe about the lack of benefits or workman's comp. But since they can get all sorts of aid from the state, they're not really out anything.
BTW you know the "baby eater" was trolling AOC? and a damn good job of it!
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 09 2019, @03:25AM
200% overhead does not pass the laugh test.
Did you ever consider that the guy was lying to you?
That maybe he had a vested interest in exaggerating the facts in order to relieve himself of culpability?
Or maybe he just told you what you wanted to hear?
Payroll taxes on $40K (which is roughly $20/hour, these numbers are less for $10/hour)
So, worst case that's about 35% - nowhere near 200%
(Score: 3, Informative) by helel on Wednesday October 09 2019, @05:54AM (3 children)
I've actually done the books in California and your numbers sound vastly inflated. The combination of taxes, workers comp, and other benefits never exceeded 40% or 50% of payroll. Now construction might be a different beast - workers comp is probably higher, for one thing - but it's hard to imagine that it's 150% of payroll higher.
I suspect you've been misinformed.
That said, I was once paid $700 to help someone avoid about $50 in tax liability. Some people hate taxes enough that they'll pay vastly more money just to avoid them. Perhaps your contractor contact had books that looked more like $10/hour pay and $4/to the state but decided they'd rather pay $15/hour to hire undocumented immigrants?
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Wednesday October 09 2019, @07:58AM (1 child)
I actually worked this out once, back around 1995ish... for one part-time minimum-wage employee, fully legal, $7500 in wages magically became $24,000 in total costs once everything mandated by the state was added. Since this exceeded my gross, needless to say it didn't happen.
About ten years back CA announced intention to increase one or another (I forget if it was workmans comp or what) of these employer obligations, and Costco threw a fit about it, threatened to pull out of the state entirely -- per their figures, 70% of the cost of each employee was state-mandated -- benefits, insurance, payroll tax, comp, they had a whole list with numbers for each. [At the time Costco's starting wage was $10/hour.] Someone on Another Forum[TM] just posted similar numbers for their business. So there ya go.
It probably becomes less painful as you go up the ladder to higher wages, or to salaries instead of hourly -- I expect by that point employee take-home outweighs relatively fixed costs like medical coverage and insurance. But it's very different down in the low-rent trenches, and it's no mystery why illegal labor is popular for low-end jobs -- otherwise the value of those employees simply can't offset the cost to employ them.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 09 2019, @01:18PM
Holy shit is that weak-ass response. Tons of hand-waving — zero evidence. You are a fool.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday October 09 2019, @03:57PM
Business Administration 101 teaches that payroll costs an employer right at 50% over the employers wages. You make ten dollars an hour before taxes, the employer is paying fifteen. There is variance from state to state, and even a little variance within some states, but overall, nationwide, it was supposed to be 50%.
Of course, today's accountants didn't learn from the books I was given to study. They've come up with all new loopholes and other crazy shit since then. Some of them didn't study ANYTHING.
Would you believe that there exists a company in the US that believes it wise to keep a 40 year old truck on the road? It's somehow "cheaper" to keep that rolling liability looking for a victim, than to purchase a new truck. Even IF the company couldn't depreciate and write off the new truck, the liability is just insane!! I have no idea why the insurance company covers the damned thing.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 09 2019, @06:25AM
By your account, that should split the problem up into two independent issues: The shadow economy, where government barriers to otherwise legal employment leads to people getting paid under the table, and then the hiring of people not permitted to work in this country.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday October 09 2019, @03:49PM (5 children)
Yes, I'm aware of what the baby eating woman is. I've not seen where she has been identified, only that the PAC owned up to the stunt.
I'm just keeping that sig for the time being because it offends so many people, LOL.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 09 2019, @03:52PM (2 children)
Why would you need a sig to offend people when your opinions do that quite nicely?
--
Putin Upset That Trump Asked Another Country To Interfere In Election
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday October 09 2019, @03:58PM (1 child)
Judging from the number of comments condemning the signature, it is doing it's job better than I can.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 10 2019, @02:20AM
Lol, demonstrating yet again that conservatism is nothing more than triggering the libs.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday October 09 2019, @04:58PM
It's not so much offensive to me as signalling you're either uninformed or can't tell truth from fiction. But your call, of course.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Wednesday October 09 2019, @05:20PM
Okay, just makin' sure :) After all, some o' them folks need offendin'!!
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.