Illegal immigrants are tolerated in the United States in part because of an unofficial pact between big business and the federal government, according to Peter Salins, a professor of political science at Stony Brook University.

"[There] was kind of an agreement, [an] unholy agreement perhaps between the American business community and the federal government,'' Salins told "The Steve Malzberg Show'' on Newsmax TV.

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"The Social Security Administration knows quite precisely where the illegals are.

"[But] every time they have tried to contact the employers [about] fraudulent documentation that's been submitted, they got howls from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and from the immigrant advocacy groups.''

Salins — author of "The Smart Society: Strengthening America’s Greatest Resource, Its People,'' published by Encounter Books — added that the answer to immigration reform in 2014 is compromise.

"Both left and right have to come together and the deal would be this: really stringent enforcement … We have the laws on the book and we can strengthen those laws,'' he said.

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