Illegal Workers May Be More Numerous

By Erik Skindrud

Despite the threat of fines, the number of contractors and other employers using undocumented workers may be much higher than is commonly estimated, a recent study suggests.

There may be as many as 18 to 20 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., versus government figures that put the number at roughly 8.5 million, says Robert Justich in a paper titled ?EUR??,,????'??The Underground Labor Force Is Rising to the Surface.?EUR??,,????'?? Justich is a senior managing director at Bear Stearns Asset Management in New York.

If workers and employers paid all owed taxes, the federal government could reap a windfall of close to $400 billion a year, business journalist Jim McTague asserts in Barron's weekly magazine in January.

?EUR??,,????'??If the IRS could collect all the taxes it says that it is owed from the underground economy in any given year, then the current budget deficit would disappear overnight,?EUR??,,????'?? McTague writes.

The number of landscape and other contractors who employ illegal workers is unknown. Figures do show that the number of applications for legal guest workers through the government's H-2B program far outstrips a 66,000-worker cap set by Congress.

Several representatives have proposed new legislation, and President George W. Bush has vowed to support some form of immigration reform.