Photo by Orcoo.
The irony of all ironies in the current Administration’s fight against undocumented immigration came today when news broke that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) head, and immigration hard-liner, Michael Chertoff, was himself paying undocumented immigrants to clean his house. In fact, according to the cleaning company’s owner, James D. Reid, “workers sailed through the checks.”
Tom Barry of the TransBorder Project of the Center for International Policy says:
Despite a wave of lawsuits, investigative reports criticizing DHS detention practices, and protests by immigrant advocates, Chertoff has forged ahead with the controversial border fence, the large-scale jailing of illegal immigrants, and programs to enforce immigration law at the workplace.
Not only is he forging ahead, Chertoff continues to “trumpet” the results of raids, deportations, and efforts to roll out e-Verify in the face of opposition from civil rights organizations, business groups, and a federal judge. Surely, he will be patting himself on the back as he leaves his Beltway.
Now it’s Reid who finds himself in a costly predicament-he owes the government $22,880 in fines for failing to check identification and work documents and fill out required I-9 verification forms for his employees, five of which worked at Chertoff’s home. These fines have now run Reid out of business, as Reid is forced to learn the hard lessons of Chertoff’s immigration tactics:
- Businesspeople are unreasonably expected to be able to distinguish between fake and real driver’s licenses and Social Security cards;
- Immigration laws are unevenly enforced, allowing big companies and bad-apple employers to stay in business while crushing small-business owners;
- Rules punish “scapegoats” such as him while inviting people at every level — customers, subcontractors and contractors — to look the other way while benefiting economically from cheaper labor.
And Reid isn’t the only one. In the past few years the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE, a department of the DHS) has stepped up its enforcement actions, as honest businesses and hard-working immigrants are bearing the “brunt” of DHS’ tactics.
Reid brought up an interesting point: “Our people need to know, our Homeland Security can’t police their own home. How can they police our borders?” Given the current state of our economy and immigration system, we must look for ways to help all workers and businesses. Chertoff’s hypocritical faux-pa just highlights the need for comprehensive, fair and workable solutions to our immigration system and economic situation.
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Don McAninch
December 12, 2008 at 8:16 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
In this time of high unemployment and overpopulation, it is crucial to start shutting down immigration. Both legal and illegal immigration should be eliminated.
DM
December 13, 2008 at 10:29 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Don, your comments are not supported by fact. Immigrants do not cause unemployment. Population growth in the U.S. being bad for economic growth? Please. Since the 1950s, the U.S. population has sky rocketed and so has the average standard of living. Get real Don and learn the facts. http://www.uschamber.com/NR/rdonlyres/e33skwh6fpcle6afyoz44ysuqkmtjaq3wrlhszzufr2fyucjuaxk7dvtzuoin6bej7gje7isy2yo6rmc5hb6n4kxdje/14484ImmigrationMythFacts.pdf
AndiMedi
December 13, 2008 at 11:18 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Reducing legal immigration below market demand is what has caused the illegal immigration problem in the first place. Until we can sever the ties between the opponents of legal immigration and those concerned with the illegal immigration problem, we won’t be able to solve it. We need to replace illegal immigration with legal immigration. Trying to reduce legal immigration will just get us more of what we have. In the long run, the demographic changes that create demand for immigrants in the US economy (we — the native born — are more educated and have fewer babies) are still there, even if in the short run the economy slows down.
Peter Coyotl
December 14, 2008 at 11:57 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Donnie, so you want to get rid of some of the brightest minds in our country when they are most needed to help stem this economic crisis?
Please consider that immigrants were responsible for 52% of Silicon Valley’s startup companies in 2005 and filed 24% of new patent applications.
Immigrant-owned companies also provide employment for many US citizens. Should those businesses close because of your narrow minded “solution?” Would all that extra unemployment not hurt the economy?
It is obvious that your “cut and paste” redundant post is a shallow anti-immigrant rant. You post in blogs and on on-line newspapers throughout the nation-using the same post. You never offer any facts or evidence as to the validity of your argument.
Come on, Donnie you can do better than this.
A Secure Fence, a Loose Screen Door « Smart Borders
December 15, 2008 at 7:48 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
[...] Last week on December 11, Chertoff was also discovered to have been employing unauthorized workers to clean his house. (Nill, Andrea) [...]