Readers' forum: High fine solution

As a small business owner working in the construction industry in Utah who often employees immigrants, I would like to offer a fair, quick and practical solution to the whole illegal alien issue.

Every employer who fills out an I-9, the form that should be filled out with every new hire is required to obtain certain documentation to verify legal U.S. citizenship status. It doesn't matter if the person seeking employment can't speak any English at all as long as they provide you with the proper ID. But if you are an employer in Utah with 14 or fewer employees, you aren't required to E-verify the job applicant's Social Security number.

Most small employers either don't care or don't want to take the time to E-verify with the state. The government should levy heavy fines on all employers regardless of size who hire illegal immigrants. Understandably the government doesn't have time to check every single employer, but they could audit them from time to time just as they do now for other tax infractions. Once the word got out that such and such employer was fined $5,000 for every illegal immigrant hired, employers would stop hiring them.

Without work most illegal immigrants would return to their respective countries very quickly.