A frequent witness before congressional committees studying ways to curtail illegal immigration to the U.S., he appeared in March 1995 before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Immigration, and he spent part of last December in Washington, D.C., testifying before House committees about the results of his research on European admission policies for temporary foreign workers, particularly in agriculture. Hiring workers who are in this country illegally can affect legally entitled workers, Miller says. Employers can develop a preference for illegal workers. Due to a lack of legal status, they work hard, scared and cheap, existing at the margins of society. In recent years, Miller says, the French have had success with a verification system that employers use before they hire a new worker.
Employers can call the French social security office and verify a worker's documentation.
In spite of tougher laws, high fines and increased enforcement in the 1980s, illegal immigration appeared to be on the upswing in France in the 1990s. One reason was that public prosecutors and judges were reluctant to go after employers. So, the French government embarked on an extensive education effort on the economic and social harm caused by the employment of undocumented workers. The problem with evaluating the efficacy of employer sanctions, both in France and this country, is that the number of illegal aliens is unknown, so it's difficult to know whether illegal alien employment is expanding or contracting, Miller says. But, he adds, in any country, strong laws and serious enforcement would keep employers from hiring illegal workers.