Underground economy growing as illegal immigrants head to new states, more jobs

By Angie Wagner / Associated Press

December 3, 2005

LAS VEGAS -- Each morning, Israel Gonzalez rises before dawn and heads to the sidewalks around the city's plant nurseries to wait for a job. There, alongside other men, he watches for pickup trucks that slow down, hoping today he will be chosen for work.

It's a morning ritual played out regularly in cities and towns as day laborers, mostly illegal immigrants, scramble for work in a country that comfortably accepts their work while disavowing their right to be here.

The work is steady, the money is good, and when Gonzalez gets picked up for a job, no one asks for documents or identification.

"The bosses don't care if the papers are real or not," he said, wearing a navy hat with an American flag on it.

Gonzalez, 31, lives with his three brothers in an apartment; none of them is legal. They are among millions of illegal immigrants who work in obscurity, in the shadows of the American economy, quietly bringing home wages from people and companies more than willing to hire them.

On paper, many don't exist. Fake Social Security numbers and birth certificates make sure of that. They are nannies, housekeepers, landscapers, construction, farm and food service workers. Cash is paid under the table, or fake documents are accepted without question.

Illegal immigrants may number as high as 20 million, and they are gaining a larger share of the job market, according to Bear Stearns in New York.

More and more, they are spreading beyond traditional immigrant states like California and Texas. They are spreading through the West and South, where there is tremendous growth, affordable housing and family networks. They are increasingly found in states like Utah, Washington, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Georgia and the Dakotas. And they're heading to suburbia.

This is America's underground economy, and it generates billions of dollars worth of labor each year. Illegal workers come for the jobs, and always find companies eager to hire them.

"The toleration of illegal immigration undermines all of our labor," said Vernon Briggs, a Cornell University labor economics professor.

"It rips at the social fabric. It's a race to the bottom. The one who plays by the rules is penalized. It becomes a system that feeds on itself. It just goes on and on and on."

Very informative article with maps and statistics at the Detroit News