L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa warns ICE

[Big Don]

Daily Breeze.com
Excerpt:
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is asking federal officials to rethink their policy on workplace immigration crackdowns that involve established businesses and to focus on employers that mistreat workers instead.
The mayor said in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that work-site raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement could have "severe and long-lasting effects" on the local economy, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.
ICE made more than 4,900 work-site arrests nationwide in fiscal 2007, a 45-fold increase over the number in 2001, authorities said.
More than 130 undocumented workers were arrested at a San Fernando Valley manufacturing company in February and over 60 workers were arrested for immigration violations at South Bay-area warehouses last week.
Los Angeles companies such as clothing manufacturer American Apparel Inc. have reported being questioned by ICE officials about their hiring procedures.
Villaraigosa accused federal officials of targeting "established, responsible employers" in industries that rely on "workforces that include undocumented immigrants."
End Excerpt
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One wonders what other laws Mr Villaraigosa thinks the government should ignore? Rape? Murder? Drug dealing? Tax Evasion? Bestiality? Drunk driving?
Make no mistake, ignoring the law is exactly what Mayor Villaraigosa demands in his letter. Why should we ignore the criminal actions of one group? Were someone to suggest ignoring criminal behavior by child molesters, there would be outrage...

 

[Twin Fist]

wait


wut?

By definition, they cannot be "responsible employers" if they use illegals

 

[Big Don]

wait


wut?

By definition, they cannot be "responsible employers" if they use illegals

No, that makes them criminal employers and the employer's of criminals.

 

[Makalakumu]

People like this need to wake up and smell the coffee. The fact that the left supports illegals and so called "guest workers" astounds me. Everytime an illegal or guest worker is hired by a company, every worker standard like wages, protection, insurance, etc is undermined. Who needs american workers when you can pay mexicans and use them up until they are broken and always find a ready supply of more workers?

Ever wonder why both parties suddenly started supporting "amnesty" and "guest workers"?

 

[Hawke]

There's this Latino comedian that made the following comment:

Latino in Florida...Cuban

Latino in New York....Puerto Rican

Latino in California.....Mexican

Southern California also has other Latinos as well, but most people assume they must be from Mexico. So since their skin colors are different they must be illegal immigrants.

Then again most people see Asians and assume we are either Chinese, Japanese, or Koreans and a familiar comment is that we should go back to our country.

 

[RandomPhantom700]

One wonders what other laws Mr Villaraigosa thinks the government should ignore? Rape? Murder? Drug dealing? Tax Evasion? Bestiality? Drunk driving?
Make no mistake, ignoring the law is exactly what Mayor Villaraigosa demands in his letter. Why should we ignore the criminal actions of one group? Were someone to suggest ignoring criminal behavior by child molesters, there would be outrage...

Right, because hiring an illegal immigrant=bestiality, right? Kinda like how suggesting that we rethink corporate law is equivalent to advocating ritualized child-rape? Let's keep to what the guy actually said, please.

 

[Big Don]

Right, because hiring an illegal immigrant=bestiality, right? Kinda like how suggesting that we rethink corporate law is equivalent to advocating ritualized child-rape? Let's keep to what the guy actually said, please.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is asking federal officials to rethink their policy on workplace immigration crackdowns that involve established businesses and to focus on employers that mistreat workers instead.
The mayor said in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that work-site raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement could have "severe and long-lasting effects" on the local economy, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.

He asked ICE to ignore violations of federal law. I asked:

One wonders what other laws Mr Villaraigosa thinks the government should ignore? Rape? Murder? Drug dealing? Tax Evasion? Bestiality? Drunk driving?
Make no mistake, ignoring the law is exactly what Mayor Villaraigosa demands in his letter. Why should we ignore the criminal actions of one group?

Since he asked a law enforcement agency to IGNORE the laws they are charged with enforcing, asking what other crimes he thinks should be exempt from enforcement is entirely appropriate and timely, that the LA Times, vaunted reputation and all, failed to ask such a cogent question is not surprising.
Asking what other laws Mr Villaraigosa doesn't deem worthy of enforcement is in no way equating illegal immigration, and the crimes surrounding it, with anything else.

 

[Ping898]

He asked ICE to ignore violations of federal law.

I read the article and I didn't see anything here where he asked ICE to ignore federal law...what I saw was he asked them to change their priorities and since they have such limited resources, spend them going after the employers who are mistreating the illegal immigrants they hire.
Seems like he feels ICE is going after the low hanging fruits for some easy victories and he is asking them to go after the folks that are taking advantage of the workers...Seems like he is asking for this cause businesses in his area are, for right or for wrong suffering financially, and he's concerned about the economic impact, which as mayor...he should be.
Not saying he should have asked for this, but I don't see anything here where he says ignore federal law, leave all the illegals alone....

 

[Nolerama]

The "Immigration Issue" is sheer hypocrisy and a waste of time to address in a reactive manner.

We've stopped looking at illegal immigrants as human beings, and more like trash and that's absolutely terrible.

Remember the last time American (en masse) did that? It was called Segregation. Before that was slavery. Issues on the simple recognition of another's DNA as fundamentally equal.

 

[Twin Fist]

illegals are human beings.

they are also criminals with no legal right to be here.

nothing else really matters

 

[Big Don]

I read the article and I didn't see anything here where he asked ICE to ignore federal law...what I saw was he asked them to change their priorities and since they have such limited resources, spend them going after the employers who are mistreating the illegal immigrants they hire.
Seems like he feels ICE is going after the low hanging fruits for some easy victories and he is asking them to go after the folks that are taking advantage of the workers...Seems like he is asking for this cause businesses in his area are, for right or for wrong suffering financially, and he's concerned about the economic impact, which as mayor...he should be.
Not saying he should have asked for this, but I don't see anything here where he says ignore federal law, leave all the illegals alone....

He is asking that the feds don't pursue prosecutions at "responsible" businesses, that is ignoring the law.

 

[Ping898]

He is asking that the feds don't pursue prosecutions at "responsible" businesses, that is ignoring the law.

Not according to the article...according to the article you posted, he ased the to

rethink their policy on workplace immigration crackdowns that involve established businesses and to focus on employers that mistreat workers instead.

Where does it say he wants them to ignore the law? What I see is again, a request to refocus their limited resources...nothing that say ignore the law...it may be semantics, but I see nothing about ignoring the law...haven't even seen him ask them not to prosecute the folks they already got...So you have access to another article with more information that we haven't seen?

 

[RandomPhantom700]

He asked ICE to ignore violations of federal law. I asked:
Since he asked a law enforcement agency to IGNORE the laws they are charged with enforcing, asking what other crimes he thinks should be exempt from enforcement is entirely appropriate and timely...Asking what other laws Mr Villaraigosa doesn't deem worthy of enforcement is in no way equating illegal immigration, and the crimes surrounding it, with anything else.

Nope, nothing in the article suggesting that the enforcement agency ignore the law. Certainly an appeal for an evaluation of the practical effects of their current enforcement policies, and a suggestion that they reprioritize their targets, but no mention of ignoring the law. DEFINITELY not any mention of bestiality or tax evasion. As Ping's already pointed out, arguing for reprioritizing isn't saying "hey, just ignore the law, we ain't hurtin no-one". So how about we stick to what he actually said?

 

[Twin Fist]

"focus on employers that mistreat workers instead."

 

[RandomPhantom700]

"focus on employers that mistreat workers instead."

Neither 'ignore', 'law', or even 'the' is contained in that phrase. Thanks for playing!

 

[Twin Fist]

ok, now you are playing semantics, and making yourself look,,,,,well, not good

 

[RandomPhantom700]

Sorry, bit of sarcasm there. Point remains, though, that what the mayor was saying in the full article wasn't "please ignore the law", but was arguing for a different approach and priorities in enforcing the law. That's a far cry from saying ignore it, and given that he's the city's mayor, I think it's within his job description to make these appeals.

 

[5-0 Kenpo]

Immigration and Custom Enforcements job is not to protect workers rights. That is the job of the EEOC. Now, if illegal immigrants have a poor or illegal working conditions, they should feel more then welcome to contact the EEOC. The EEOC should investigate, and if it is found that the empolyers were doing something illegal, enforce those laws that they are mandated to uphold. At the same time, they should contact ICE to take the illegal immigrants back to their countries of origin.

That way, everyone wins.

Quite frankly, Mayor Villaraigosa is pandering to Mexicans. I have a feeling he is not too conserned with the working conditions of legal Asian workers in the downtown L.A. factory district. Thats why this letter was directed where it was, and not to the appropriate agency that investigates working conditions.