At the end of this month, a new law goes into effect in Fremont, Neb. that makes it illegal for landlords to knowingly rent to, and employers to knowingly hire, undocumented immigrants. The law calls for stiff penalties for those who violate it. This law follows on the heels of a similar measure recently passed in Arizona, others already on the books in Texas and Pennsylvania and some being considered in Illinois.

It’s easy to understand the frustrations that have led to these communities enacting these statutes. Illegal immigration is a serious problem. Millions of undocumented aliens, we are told, are literally streaming across the border to take American jobs. We are told they drain our resources by sending their children to our schools, claiming welfare they don’t deserve and selling drugs to our children.

Of course, much has been said about the new laws. Protesters have argued that they’re unnecessary. Laws already exist, they just need to be enforced. We’ve been told they’re unconstitutional, that they violate equal protection under the law. We’ve also heard arguments that they’re immoral and racist.

While the arguments on both sides may have merit, more or less, they both miss the main point. That is, that they’re feel-good, band-aid non-solutions to a problem that is much more complex and systemic than their supporters truly understand.

The fact is, American jobs are not being “taken” by undocumented immigrants. They are being freely given away by unscrupulous employers whose only concerns are keeping payroll costs down and shareholder profits up. American workers would, in fact, be willing to take those jobs – but just not at the wages and salaries the employers have decided they’re worth.

Let’s be honest about it, shall we? When was the last time you heard of an undocumented worker getting hired for a $50,000 per year managerial position? That’s right, never. Because it doesn’t happen. Mexicans aren’t streaming north of the border to take well-paying jobs; they’re coming here because the crap jobs in America still pay better than the crap jobs in Mexico. American employers are effectively using slave labor to reduce overhead and maximize profits.

If American corporations were willing to pay a fair wage for a fair day’s work, instead of abusing employees to enrich the bottom line, they’d find a ready supply of workers right here at home. But they aren’t, and have spent the past 30 years outsourcing all aspects of their operations to cheap foreign labor overseas while doing everything they can to keep salaries low at home.

Which brings us once again back to the problem of illegal immigration. The new laws in Arizona, Pennsylvania and now Fremont are bad, to be sure. There may be racial motivation behind them. But that’s not why they’re bad; it’s only a symptom. Their atrociousness stems not from the motivations behind the laws, but the fact that they’ll be almost entirely ineffective.

They won’t make the problem of illegal immigration go away. At best, it’ll just transfer it to another town, or state. It won’t translate magically into better job opportunities for Americans, because unless American consumers decide they’re willing to pay more for products and services made in America by American workers, the same motivations to cut payroll costs will still be there. It won’t open up more affordable housing to American families, because the landlords renting to illegal immigrants will just look for the next readily available victim to exploit.

We should, by all means, punish employers and landlords who take advantage of people who are just trying to find a better life. But until we are willing to take on our own problems here; namely, the lack of opportunity for growing numbers of American workers, illegal immigration will continue to be a problem. And it won’t be solved by punishing the small-town businessmen who use the illegal immigrants as cheap labor, or the landlords who exploit them as a quick and easy source of income.

What we need to do is change our attitude toward our own labor force. We need to give back our own working classes the rights they’ve lost in the past 30 years. You know, the rights to organize into unions and the rights to bargain collectively with their bosses for fair wages and benefits.

I could be wrong. I hope I am. But experience and human nature should tell us otherwise.