Monday, December 10, 2007

It may be politics....



Mitt Romney, the GOP presidential candidate has recently fired the landscaping company that had been hired to work at his home in Belmont MA. This was not the first time that he had the same issue with Community Lawn Service of Chelsea MA though.

The former Massachusetts governor has been repeatedly asked for his plans to solve the nation's illegal alien problems and he has stated his solutions publically. Romney would like to develope a three-point plan that includes building fences along the U S-Mexico border, develope a tamperproof ID card for legal immigrants and cutoff federal money to what have been called "sanctuary cities" for illegal immigrants.

During a recent debate, Romney pointed out that he felt that Guiliani had continued to provide a safe haven within New York City while he was mayor for illegal aliens. Guilani countered that remark by stating that last year, The Boston Globe had reported on Romney's landscaping company employing illegal aliens as workers. It was a recent follow-up to that story that led to the firing of the landscaping company.

The Boston Globe asked Romney why he contiued to employ a company that had illegal aliens working for them. Romney stated that he had given the company a second chance after it was first revealed last year but that he had told them that they would have to be in compliance with the law for him to continue to employ them. He added that as soon as they were found that workers at his home were not of legal status, he drafted a letter informing the lawn service of their termination.

Ricardo Saenz recently spoke to FOX25 News and speculated that it was the heated presidential race that led to his company being fired, rather than his employees status. He claimed that Romney never had asked about his workers, only what price he had bid for the job, a job they have held for 11 years. Saenz also insisted that his workers were of legal status but he declined to show the Globe reporters their papers.

While I do feel sorry that Saenz has lost an account that he had for 11 years, working on Romney's home, I don't believe it was just politics that led to that firing. It matters little that one of his clients is now running for president, what matters is that he is breaking the law. It has long been argued that illegal workers take the jobs that Americans don't want, yet I am sure that Saenz isn't paying his workers his a competive wage....... he can become the low bidder on jobs by paying illegal workers who won't talk, less money than those who are employing legally documented workers.

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