Any politician who takes up the illegal immigration issue is bound to be eventually sorry he or she ever walked down that path. The dirty little secret in America is that someone else has always done the dirty work. For the last 10+ years it's been Mexicans and South Americans, mostly. Before that blacks, Chinese, Polish, Irish, Italian, on and on.
So, why do politicians insist on running on this issue? Don't they realize, like Mitt Romney, they'll inevitably get tangled up in the fine print? Mitt's landscape company used illegals for 10 years! Ooops! Duh. BTW, who do you think is rebuilding New Orleans....but that's another post. We said it months ago...if you're a politcian, stay away from this issue. Not because it's not a problem, but because it will BURN you.
BG ...As Governor Mitt Romney explores a presidential bid, he has grown outspoken in his criticism of illegal immigration. But, for a decade, the governor has used a landscaping company that relies heavily on workers like these, illegal Guatemalan immigrants, to maintain the grounds surrounding his pink Colonial house on Marsh Street in Belmont. The Globe recently interviewed four current and former employees of Community Lawn Service with a Heart, the tiny Chelsea-based company that provides upkeep of Romney's property. All but one said they were in the United States illegally.
The employees told the Globe that company owner Ricardo Saenz never asked them to provide documents showing their immigration status and knew they were illegal immigrants. "He never asked for papers," said Rosales, who said he had paid smugglers about $5,000 to take him across the US-Mexican border and settled in Chelsea. The workers said they were paid in cash at $9 to $10 an hour and sometimes worked 11-hour days. Romney never inquired about their status, they said.
