Austin Paradelas
Jan 18, 2025
I have owned and operated a couple of successful companies in the blue-collar field for several years, and one thing I've noticed over the last three years of business operation is the amount of undercutting going on. Part of this has to do with the cost-of-living crisis Americans have been facing in recent years. For example, in our landscape and maintenance company, many Louisiana residents started cutting lawns and taking care of flower beds as a side hustle to make ends meet. This is a problem we have to deal with as citizens amongst ourselves; however, an issue we shouldn't be having to deal with, which is affecting everyone equally, is the influx of undocumented laborers coming into the state and doing these jobs at reduced rates.
I saw firsthand the decline of our services in areas we previously dominated. I saw customers leaving in droves to go to other providers solely because their rates were 30%, sometimes 50%, lower than ours. That's when I realized what was happening.
I drove past one of the properties we used to maintain, and what did I see? Three undocumented laborers wearing the shirts of a company known for hiring and firing illegal immigrants, paying them next to nothing to complete their routes. They paid each laborer based on the number of lawns they finished, forcing them to do twice the work to earn the same daily wage that our employees could make in an eight-hour day. It's textbook exploitation.
Why do I bring this up? Is it because I have some hatred for illegal immigrants? No. Is it because I envy this exploitative business model? Never. Is it because I think he's just a super terrific guy and deserves to be highlighted? Not at all. I bring this up for three main reasons:
This level of extortion is the closest we can get to modern serfdom.
It shows the urgent need for stronger immigration reform—for our sake and theirs.
This influx of undocumented labor not only creates a horrendous work environment for the immigrants themselves but also destroys American jobs.
What do I mean by modern serfdom? For those unfamiliar, a serf is a laborer bound to work on their lord's estate, it created an environment where the only thing they could be was loyal to their lord because without them they would have no place to live and no food to eat. In the labor industry, undocumented workers struggle to find jobs without legal status and generally end up on farms, construction sites, or service-based businesses.
The upside for them is that they receive cash payments that often exceed what they would earn in their home countries, allowing them to send money back to their families. However, the downside is severe: they have no rights or protections and can be fired without recourse. Employers can deny any association with them, leaving these workers vulnerable to exploitation and immense individual risk. In other words, they really need to do what their boss says or things won't go well for them.
This is why I emphasize the need for a stronger border—not just for our sake, but for theirs. A stronger border protects us domestically while also shielding these workers from being exploited by greedy business owners who prioritize profit margins over human dignity. We should also be going after employers who do this viscously, but that's a topic for another day.
Equally important is the right of every American to have a job before an illegal immigrant. As a business owner in multiple fields, I've seen it firsthand: jobs in construction, groundskeeping, cleaning services, plumbing, irrigation, and more are being overtaken by undocumented workers. These are fields that could and should employ Americans.
One constant critique of this argument is, "Who cares? Nobody wants to do those jobs anyway." That's simply untrue. There are men and women who want to do these jobs—I know them, I hire them. They are your neighbors, your townsfolk, your fellow Americans.
It's vital to remember that while a strong border and immigration monitoring is essential, it is equally our prerogative to prioritize the welfare and opportunities of our citizens before others. In other words, America first.