What An Entrepreneur Can Learn From An Illegal Immigrant

As I prepare the audio version of this article, the time is 4:03 a.m. I'm on my way to the airport, heading to Panamá. I just wanted to make a few notes on this political situation with Immigration. One of the reasons why I can comment on this is because I am half-Latino, I guess you'd call it, or adopted Latino.

In other words, I'm a Gringo and the Latinos aquí, the Latinos here, they understand that I’ve adopted myself into LatinoLandia. They know they can trust me.

Number one, I speak the language. Number two, I'm not looking at them as an investigator—I have the correct posture. Number three, they know that as a person who has a Latin wife and child in a Latin country, I understand what's going on. And indeed I do.

And it's interesting. One of our buddies is looking to put a new arrival in a place to live. And look, here's what's happening…and it is a political issue. The U.S. government marginalizes these people that we ask to come here to do the work that nobody wants to do, and then they rob them in so many different ways.

Number one, they're forced to find work where they can get paid cash. They're forced to—they don't have any other choice. They don't have Social Security numbers.

Now, of course they're not so well educated as to understand that that's just a false name that some bureau-speak agency put on that thing. It's really a government-issued tracking and identification number—that's all it is, brother. You don't have social security.

They don't know that, but they do know that that is the key… and if they don't have that, they're locked outside the system. They are forced to work for wages that aren't taxed. Or, of course, if they are taxed, they have to use a presumed identity number, and of course they're not ever going to get any benefit from it; they may work for years that way, on and on and on.

One of my friends and companions was telling me about one of his cousins who's en route to Nashville. The gentleman has paid $700 to get there. Well now, this is interesting. Now remember, this is a Latino without resources, without the ability to legally work.

And he had to pay $700 to get transported from Los Angeles to Nashville.

Now, folks, wake up. I'm giving you the inside scene that you never see. You know, he could get on a plane on a 2-way flight for $350, a direct flight on Southwest Airlines—but he's paying double that. Why is he paying double that? Because he's being forced to, because he's marginalized in our country and economy.

Now, what am I saying to you on this one? Well, this message is more a case of opening your eyes to something that's happening. As an entrepreneur, your inside information, your insight, is what gives you the advantage. So you need to know this, whether you ever employ illegals or not.

But the interesting thing is that a lot of times, as an entrepreneur, you are marginalized also. You are lumped in with big business, the ones that are employing thousands, and the legislatures make and pass regulations and they scream and holler about what they're going do to the people that are taking advantage of workers. That's you.

And someone who thinks independently, that's you. Someone who doesn't have the normal jobspeak, that's you. That's okay. What you want to know is that there are number of different "groups" that at some point, in some manner, are marginalized.

And if you ever think you're feeling marginalized, check in on the way they force the illegal immigrants to live here. You see, there is no "legal" immigration…that's the big lie that people say. So when people come, they've got to adapt. I don't know what the reasons are—I'm not a politician. But I can tell you this: they are doing what they're forced to do.

And in a manner of speaking, as an entrepreneur you will always do whatever it takes. This is a saying—embrace it. Whatever it takes, just like all good people do.