The North County Times reports on a website that lists companies in the Temecula, CA area who pledge not to hire illegal workers. So far, there are only 22 companies on the list, but if the coverage area was broadened there might be many more.

The NC Times report includes this bit:

[Seymour & Son Landscaping owner] Mark Seymour said Friday that the rampant employment of illegal immigrants for yard and landscape work represents a significant threat to his business. He said that contractors who hire illegal immigrants have an unfair competitive advantage.

"They drive down the price of labor," he said. "I think that all (business owners) should play on the same playing field and follow the law."

...UC Riverside Professor Armando Navarro... said that he is not surprised that someone has started up an illegal-immigrant-free business registry, especially in the Temecula area.

"It seems like Temecula and the surrounding areas have become the bastion of the anti-immigrant movement," he said.

He added that he believes that people who sign up for the listing service are using their emotions, not their brains. "It's anger and frustration; in reality it's not going to have much of an effect," he said. The profit motive is too strong for many business owners to resist, he said.

"Businesses are driven by profit and most business people want to get the biggest bang for their buck; consumers look for the cheapest price, that's the nature of the market," said Navarro...

I hate to rain on Navarro's free market parade, but one of the fundamental ideas behind a free market is that people are using legal business practices. If they aren't, then that could be unfair business competition as defined by various state codes and the U.S. code.

See "FAIR: RICO Laws Becoming the Last Resort of American Workers Facing Onslaught of Illegal Aliens in the Work Place", "RICO Lawsuit Against Employer of Illegal Aliens Succeeds!", and 2001's "Psst! Wanna Join A Class Action Suit Against Employers of Illegal Immigrants?". I don't want lawyers to enforce our immigration laws, but as a last resort I'll take it. There are probably billions to be made by those lawyers, and it's cleaner and more patriotic money than many other Private Attorney's General-style suits.

Also, there used to be a sticker in the window of the Yoshinoya at San Fernando and Los Feliz in Glendale/Atwater saying that Yoshinoya only employed legal workers. I don't think it's still there. I might be wrong, but I got the impression it was part of a larger Buy American-style campaign. Researching...