Enforcing Our Immigration Laws?
Enforcing Our Immigration Laws?
It's a real problem for LA Times columnist Tim Rutten. In fact, he apparently thinks it's a terrible, unjust thing to do. He makes big boohoohoos in the LA Times about illegal immigrants (although he never refers to them that way) who got drop-kicked from jobs Americans could be taking. (Note the unemployment rate for citizens, Timster? You mention it in your column.) Rutten writes:
This week, unemployment among American workers climbed to its highest level in a quarter of a century. In parts of Los Angeles, joblessness has reached levels unmatched since the Depression. In many predominantly African American and Latino neighborhoods, nearly one in four people is out of work.Yet the Obama administration has chosen this moment to deprive more than 1,800 Angelenos, nearly all Latino immigrants, of jobs that not only pay a living wage but provide health insurance and other benefits. The workers are employed by American Apparel, the largest employer in downtown L.A.'s garment district. The company and its workers are victims of a shift in federal law enforcement that began under George W. Bush and now has taken a particularly callous turn under President Obama.
The firings are taking place because the American Apparel workers were found to be using identity documents that federal immigration authorities have deemed illegitimate. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has called the firings "devastating."
"Deemed illegitimate"? Now, I guarantee that you won't say that about my "identity documents," like my birth certificate, social security card, and U.S. passport. I'm asked to present my passport and driver's license and sign a document when I do a paid TV appearance, because, just as in many or most countries around the globe, we require a person to have a permit or be a citizen to work in our country. Wow, what horrible fascist people we are.
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