re: I just learned one of my favorite contractors is not a US citizen.

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he has been here for 24 years...no "criminal" history (that I know of), married w/ 2 teenagers who were very young when they came to America.

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Admittedly my degree is in physics and not mathematics, but being very young and adding 24 years to that doesn’t make them teenagers anymore.

Or did he bring them over later? Meaning that to father them he or his wife had to be illegally traveling back and forth.

Either way, he was knowingly violating the law.

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don't know what the answer is.

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Yes you do.

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We can't keep doing the same ole thing with immigration policies, laws, and border security and expect different results.

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Which is why we need to stop these people from entering in the first place. A wall is a good start. Then hope that employers actually follow the law, stop paying these people, and report them.

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She is way more educated than when we got married. We also followed all of the laws and filled out the plethora of forms, sending each in with an average of about $100. Every form has a fee and there are many forms. It took us a few years to jump through all of the hoops and dance all the dances.


I had to do it right, pay for it, and sign documentation saying she would not go on any form of public assistance for her first three years here. It was a pain in the balls but we did it right. I would also like to add that she had a SS# when we met and got a LA Drivers license while we were dating so she could have illegally covered an I-9 and didn't.

Your criminal buddy has to go back

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I am telling you many in the Hispanic community would follow all the forms and laws to a T if they truly knew what to do....

Please don't compare coming from the UK via airplane with crossing the southern border...

You are correct, I do not associate

Yard crew relieved of its duties just this week and landscaping contractor reported. They did a great job for months before I was actually home to see that the crew were not the individuals that I originally hired.

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You are correct, I do not associate

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well, it seems you made a bunch of assumptions...

if you do not associate, then you do not know a person's status...

Hahaha. My thoughts exactly.

That said, seemed sincere to me and I appreciate the sincerity, OP.

Immigration is a complex issue lacking a simple solution, but I appreciated the thoughtful OP and defense of it through out.

Whether it was yesterday, today or tomorrow illegal is still illegal. If you can't bring yourself to report him then cut him loose and walk away. Otherwise, if you employ his service again you are just another employer taking a job away from a citizen.

I think that if people were being honest there would be a lot more with stories similar to yours. I'm sure we've all had our favorite housekeeper, nanny or babysitter, elder caregiver, etc. whose work ethic and devotion to the family are exemplary.

Sadly, this man and his family have had their opportunity to do the right thing. Ignorance of the law is not an excuse for breaking the law. There are tons of resources in Spanish and many other languages that explain the laws of this country and the steps one must take to conform to those laws.

There are tons of places, including churches, that provide free English language lessons. There is no good reason not to speak English adequately after nearly a quarter of a century in this country.

Fact of the matter is that, by continuing to employ him, you risk running in with the law yourself. Can you really afford to do that? He should consult with a good, legit immigration lawyer sooner rather than later. In the meantime, you will regretfully have to use someone else's services and invite him to come back when his status is legal.

btw, I'm a naturalized citizen myself and my family followed the law every step of the way. Because we respect this country and its laws.

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also learned he has been here for 24 years...no "criminal" history (that I know of), married w/ 2 teenagers who were very young when they came to America.

He doesn't have a work permit or visa, no driver's license at this time, ...according to his daughter (who drives him to work) today he did many years have a license but it's unclear why it wasn't maintained. She mentioned he was not properly informed about Amnesty when it was offered...(I have no way of validating this part of the story)

Why is he one of my favorite contractors? For starters he's really skilled and does a great job, he always smiles, you can tell he enjoys his work, he has the attitude you want, he always shows up early , he works really hard until the job is done, then he goes home to his family. (Hard to find these days!!) I never asked about his status until today. These are real situations where you think "gosh, this is who we need to become a citizen, but what would be the next step to "get right"?" I know of 2 other similar situations.

It was reported today ICE is transporting 225,000 migrants from the border and will essentially delivery these people across the country. Why? This large group of people includes many children, apparently their court dates are extended out to 2021 -2022 because the backlog is that deep.

This went mostly unreported, but we have approximately 1,000,000 people in the United States who have been served "Must leave papers" because we learned after due diligence they falsified their asylum claims. #goodluckwiththat

I don't know what the answer is.

We can't keep doing the same ole thing with immigration policies, laws, and border security and expect different results.

thoughts?

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He doesnt have a license because it would tue him to taxes.

You wrote all that to tell us hes a fricking free loader who hasnt ever paid taxes.

frick you, and frick him

Let's let people who steal under 500 bucks go without consequences too. What other laws should we ignore?