Wendy McElroy

Wendy McElroy is a contributing editor to Ideas on Liberty, a publication that promotes economic freedom and individual rights. In the following viewpoint, she argues that while some illegal immigrants are exploited in sweatshops and other hazardous workplaces, many immigrant advocates are mistaken in their belief that more government regulation is the solution. She argues that it is government policies and their enforcement—especially federal laws against hiring illegal immigrants—that are the primary cause of the excessive exploitation of immigrant workers. She contends that employers will pay appropriate wages for labor (which would be low for the unskilled labor that many immigrants perform) and that immigrant workers could collectively unionize and bargain to improve their position if the labor market is kept free from government interference.

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