illegal immigration

"...debate on the subject is too often framed in ethnic or cultural terms. at heart it is an economic question. huge disparities of wealth have long existed between developed and developing nations. the huge migrations of the past two decades have been fueled in large part not by a shift in the inequality between nations, but by the ability of employers to make use of [grey] market labor. in many respects illegal immigration is a symptom of market failure. companies that are willing to break the law gain a competitive advantage over those that employ legal residents, that pay good wages and fully pay their taxes. dipping into the underground rewards employers who cheat."

*excerpted from "reefer madness" by eric schlosser, pg.217