Gee, what might the state of Texas want to confirm before granting a license to work in professions and trades? Note in particular the emphasis on work.
The Austin American-Statesman appears aghast at the new requirement in Texas that licensees demonstrate that they can work in the US legally. The bigger issue is that the state of Texas had licensed illegal aliens in the first place. Their report starts off with a sob story:
Iris Yanez spent 12 months and $13,000 working toward a Texas hairdresser’s license. By the time she finished the requirements in early February, a quiet policy change by the state had already made her ineligible.
“I’m going to have two credentials that I’m not going to be able to use,” said Yanez, an immigrant without legal status who also has a state license for eyelash extensions.
The 45-year-old was caught in a sudden shift by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation that now requires applicants to provide proof of legal authorization to be in the United States.
Yanez is one of potentially thousands of hairdressers, barbers, electricians and HVAC professionals across Texas who are ineligible to obtain or renew professional licenses after the state agency added the requirement in late January. The department’s commissioners could vote to make the policy final as early as March 24.
There are two significant issues in play here: immigration enforcement and the scope of licensing requirements. Let’s look at the latter first. There are those who claim that states over-require licensing for mundane activities; requiring a license for eyelash extensions almost makes that argument without further debate. Libertarians make good arguments on a consistent basis that such policies are needlessly restrictive and often rent-seeking policies by larger participants in markets to prevent small competitors from entering their markets. For some states and localities, it’s simply a cash grab, but even then, the hurdle exists and keeps smaller competitors from gaining entry. In the case of Ms. Yanez, it cost her $13,000 and a year of work just to get to the point of having a hairdresser license.
Without debating the relative merits of licensing in each and every instance, licensing requirements by their nature restrict access to markets and do so deliberately, using the power of the state and its law-enforcement authority. That means the state actively prevents access to the marketplace for those who seek to work in it by requiring state approval first. Since licensing acts as a gatekeeper to employment in these fields, should states not confirm that the applicant for this state approval can actually work in the US first? Illegal aliens cannot legally work in the US. In fact, legal aliens cannot either, unless they get a green card as a legal permanent resident or get a work visa when entering the US.
Working in the US without legal status is a crime, and aliens can be deported for that reason alone, even if they entered the US legally. It’s also a crime to employ aliens who are not legally permitted to work in the US, again, irrespective of the legality of their entry.
Licensing illegal aliens for these professions and trades abets criminal activity. The state has been in the position of licensing activity that would lead directly to deportation, which is an absurdity. By licensing those who have no legal authority to work in the US, the state has interfered with markets to make it at least somewhat more difficult and costly for legal workers to compete.
Opponents of this new policy warn that this will only push people into unlicensed activities:
Barbers will move their businesses out of brick-and-mortar establishments and into their own houses, and HVAC technicians will have no incentive to continue working for licensed companies, Gonzales said.
“You’re not going to tell me that someone who knows air conditioners for more than 15 years is going to stop working on them because you told them not to,” Gonzales said. “If you take it away from them they’re going to find a way to do this illegally.”
That’s probably true. However, that’s an argument against licensing in general, too, not just with illegal aliens but with everyone. Gonzales’ argument ignores that the state enforces these licensing laws whenever anyone operates in these trades and professions without a license, even those who do have a legal right to work in the US. That enforcement is what makes licenses valuable, and why they enhance the price these workers can charge in the marketplace for their labor. Gonzales isn’t objecting to that enforcement; he wants the state to provide licenses to those ineligible to work in the first place, enhancing the value of their labor through that very mechanism of state enforcement of licensing.
The handwringing over this change is entirely hypocritical. Opponents want to eat their state-enforcement cake and have it too by ignoring the illegal status of the workers it has protected. The state of Texas is making their gatekeeping in trades and professions legally consistent, and that is long overdue.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump, illegal immigration into our great country has virtually stopped. Despite the radical left’s lies, new legislation wasn’t needed to secure our border, just a new president.
Help us continue to report the truth about the president’s border policies and mass deportations. Join Hot Air VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership!
