Illegal immigrants toiled for (Mass.) governor (Romney)

[Newsjock]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/12/01/illegal_immigrants_toiled_for_governor/

... 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.

... Asked by a reporter yesterday about his use of Community Lawn Service with a Heart, Romney, who was hosting the Republican Governors Association conference in Miami, said, "Aw, geez," and walked away.

[SpiralHawk]

1. Romney - typical republicon crony hypocrite

what a wanker.

[meegbear]

2. Aw, geez!

*GASP* And using language like that, SIR, will not help your aspirations either!

[Katzenjammer]

3. Elites can do no wrong, don'cha know? (nt)

[Cobalt Violet]

4. Yet another hypocritical republican.

They have no shame. "Aw geez"

[tanyev]

5. This is clearly a plot engineered by Democrats.

[maxrandb]

6. It's that damned "Liberal Media"

As long as they are allowed to trott out that "liberal media" bias charge, every hypocriticle, illegal, corrupt and nefarious thing they do, can be answered with an "Aw, geez".

[moondust]

7. Uh oh.

Haven't some of Bush's appointees been thrown out due to hiring illegals?

[chelsea0011]

8. ROTFLOL.

Illegals in the lawn care business. Who would have thunk it. Willard(and thanks to DU for reminding us of his real name) has the built in excuse...I knew nothing, I didn't hire them to shooo it all away. But it can't and won't work.

[itsmesgd]

9. Is there a central clearing house for the large list of hypocrisy?

I love how these hypocrites are sinking themselves one by one. It goes to show that if a repuke says he's against something, odds are he's got it in his past.

[satan is your lips]

30. illegal aliens

What ever happened to prop 187 in Ca.? A landslide mandate of the voters to basically stop the free hand outs to those here illegally,trashed by one liberal judge. Why bother voting? If the real powers to be don't like the way we vote, they just get one of their corrupt judges to override it anyway.

[Kerrytravelers]

36. Take this post with a grain of salt. Our "friend" is no longer with us.

[Mz Pip]

37. It was a crappy law

and that's why it was thrown out of court. It's one of the big problems with the Initiative system. You get a lot of bad legislation that doesn't hold up in court. People vote for something on the emotion behind the proposition and don't bother to read the fine print - and with these initiatives there are pages and pages of fine print.

One of the provisions of the Prop 187 was to require that teachers turn in illegal aliens. At the time I was a teacher and wondered how I was supposed to do that. Was I supposed to ask every 10 year old in my class if he was in the country illegally? What kind of added bureaucracy would that create? How much more in tax dollars would it cost? There was a lot more in that proposition than just denying services to illegals.

Get your facts straight before you blame this on "one liberal judge."

Mz Pip
:dem:

[oustemnow]

50. Wasn't it also found that then-gov. Wilson

had an illegal housekeeper while he was banging the anti-immigrant drum that led to Prop 187?

The more things change....

[gratuitous]

10. "Aw, geez," Mitt? That's all you have to say?

Remember, we didn't make this a big, fat issue: It was the Republicans appealing to the xenophobe crowd that wanted to look all super patriotic on immigration reform. Now the issue is chomping at your nether regions -- and you knew it would -- and all you can say is "Aw, geez," Mitt?

Up yours, Mitt.

[n2doc]

12. Wouldn't Dobson slap him for that quote?

Dobson has written in his diaries that his father always equated "geez" with "Jesus" and thus Mitt would be taking his name in vain. Come on, Dobson, go for it!

[BuelahWitch]

32. I doubt Dobson likes Mormons

Although I have no way of knowing.

[Critters2]

53. I suspect you're right. All the Evangelicals I know (and I know more than my share)

hate Mormons.

[Ian David]

11. Duplicate: Illegeal Aliens Toiled for Governor (Mountain Meadows Mitt Romney)

Illegeal Aliens Toiled for Governor (Mountain Meadows Mitt Romney)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2995374

[Morgana LaFey]

13. Hypocrisy, thy name is Republican

always, always, always

[silverojo]

14. So he hires illegals instead of Americans or LEGAL immigrants?

This news needs to be kept in the public eye so people know what a hypocrite he is!

[nealmhughes]

15. Fantastic! But I agree with the "ah geez" criticism: should it not have been

"By Kolob" or "Ah, magic drawers!" perhaps "Giant Salamander!"?

Bring on Dobbs!

[D-U-D-E]

16. Mitt won't give them a drivers license

but they can mow his lawn in Belmont. Nice Planet.

[polmaven]

18. Maybe we should require a drivers license

to be allowed to drive a lawn mower. Poor Mittens...How he is picked on..tsk, tsk!

Welcome to DU, D-U-D-E.

[MADem]

35. And on a RIDING mower, too, the lucky skunks!!!!

Seriously, this is the GREATEST news I've heard today...next thing we know, we'll discover Mittens the Shitt'ns pulled a Bob Barr and wrote a check for an abooooooooooortion!!!!! Or pulled a Kerik lite, and screwed some sleazy girlfriend or boyfriend in the damaged and closed Big Dig Tunnel!!!

Ah jus' LOVE the smell of hypocrisy in the mornin'!!

See, this is what happens when politicians are CHEAP. They raise millions to pursue a halfassed idea (yet another buttwipe who wants to avenge his 'brainwashed' daddy), but cut corners on lawn care for a home not even lived in (that bastard spends more time in NH, woe to them, than he does in MA).

Mitt the Shitt just got SERVED...by an undocumented waiter!!!! :rofl: :rofl:

[dddem]

17. I hope he gets the nomination.

As a lifelong resident of Massachusetts, I find it hard to imagine a more beatable candidate. I can't even begin to think about what he'll tout as his experience. Under the Romney/Healey administration, the population of Massachusetts decreased. People have been trying to scrape up enough to escape for God's sake.
Can't wait for January when Mr. Deval Patrick begins to govern the state (yes, Mitten, that's what Governors are supposed to do).

[LiberalFighter]

19. When asked he said "Aw, geez,"? Yet he has a statement denying knowledge?

Several hours later, his spokesman, Eric Fehrnstrom, provided the Globe with a statement saying that the governor knows nothing about the immigration status of the landscaping workers, and that his dealings were with Saenz, who is a legal immigrant from Colombia.

Fehrnstrom said that Romney would look into the matter further.

"We'll see what happens from here on out," Fehrnstrom said. "If the Globe has information on people that are in the country illegally, obviously that would have to be verified. . . . We've already taken the first step in that direction by calling Mr. Saenz."

To me that statement indicates knowledge but then again I suppose he didn't know the company was using illegals. And realized this might (we can only hope) derailed his run for the office.

They released a statement that they had already taken the first step by calling the owner but they didn't include what the response was from the owner.

[MADem]

38. Well, if he's so fucking hands off that he doesn't notice that his entire lawn crew

speaks SPANISH outta CHELSEA, and then, given his rabid anti-immigrant stance, fails to ask, well, that tells me one thing: he didn't want to know. He was getting a good price, and he didn't want to screw that up.

Of course, if you never live in your goddamn "residence" and instead live in your jazzy lakeside home in NH, or your fancy ski house in Utah, I suppose there's a reason you might not notice. But the very reason for not noticing points out why the asshole should never have been Guv'nah--he ain't from here, he doesn't live here, and he has no business telling us what to do and how to go about our lives. We should be quite grateful for our smackdown liberal sometimes cronyass legislature that kept that plastic skeletor Ken doll boxed up for his entire term!

[Critters2]

54. When I worked in Chelsea (which, I admit, was 20 years ago)

I would not have assumed that Spanish-speakers were immigrants. All the Spanish-speking folks I knew in Chelsea were from Puerto Rico--that is, citizens. Being from Chelsea and speaking Spanish doesn't mean one is an immigrant, let alone an illegal one.

[LiberalFighter]

20. How about state contracts being awarded to this company?

Community Lawn Service also provides landscaping for a Massachusetts Port Authority property in Revere and public school grounds in Chelsea. The Globe reported in June that companies using undocumented workers had received state contracts, triggering intense debate on Beacon Hill. Romney and GOP lawmakers have supported an effort to prohibit the practice.

Or Romney and GOP lawmakers explicitly prohibiting the hiring of illegals?

[LiberalFighter]

21. Response by the owner of the company

"He doesn't have to ask," Saenz said. "I'm a company."

Saenz asserted that all the workers he used were in the United States legally. Told by reporters that his employees said they were in this country illegally, Saenz responded: "What you've heard is not my problem."

Saenz said he had never requested any proof from his employees to show they are here legally.


This guy met Romney thru their church.

[LibDemAlways]

23. "I'm a company." That's a good one.

Of course this guy knows that his workers are here illegally. He wants illegal help. That's how he gets away with paying them below the minimum wage, in cash, and with no withholding taxes - which means he pockets more. Plus, his workers can't complain because, well, they're expendable.

[mac56]

28. "Saenz said he had never requested any proof from his employees to show they are here legally."

Isn't he required by law to see documentation of legal US residency? SS card or something?

[ms liberty]

29. Yes he is...

When you hire someone there's a whole range of paperwork. You have to see the SS card, by law. Also a form called an I-9 must be filled out. It requires the green card number and SS, and other documentation. It's a form SPECIFICALLY for documentation making sure the employee isn't an illegal alien.
Furthermore, when that paperwork get to the govt., if the information given doesn't match they WILL notify you, and you can't continue to employ that person until they visit the SS office and clear up the discrepancies.

[LibDemAlways]

34. The way people like him "hire" their workers here

in Southern California is a lot less complicated. They drive to street corners where the workers congregate, pull over, and say "get in."

One day I happened to be pumping gas at the local car wash when the owner came out and announced it was payday. He set up a card table, pulled up a chair, and peeled off cash from a big wad to pay the guys as they lined up, washrags in hand. No attempt to hide anything. The people who own these businesses realize that their chances of getting busted are slim. They pretty clearly aren't worried about it.

Don't know what the situation is in MA, but I doubt law enforcement spends a lot of time going after guys like Saenz.

[MADem]

39. Day laborers...we have them too. It is a nationwide phenomenon

An article from last May on the subject:

http://news.bostonherald.com/immigration/view.bg?articleid=137820

A Herald surveillance of hiring sites in Somerville, Chelsea and Allston found that immigrant workers - many of them admittedly illegal - are being trucked to work sites in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, often to labor in hazardous jobs such as demolition, painting and general construction. ... Foes of illegal aliens rage about the loss of American jobs and absence of law enforcement action. Immigrant advocates decry what they see as worsening exploitation and rising death and injury rates among the foreign-born laborers.

“People are working countless hours and toiling in absolutely horrific conditions,” said Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, executive director of the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health. ... At one site along McGrath-O’Brien Highway in Somerville, a Herald reporter watched 50 laborers congregate daily on three recent mornings to seek work.Between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m., the workers got into trucks and vans whose license plates were traced to general contractors, cleaning companies, house painters, flooring installers and others.

Interviews with numerous day laborers revealed that many are undocumented and that most rarely know their work destinations before a contractor’s van arrives to pick them up for the day.

“Some don’t speak English and they don’t have their papers,” said one 22-year-old laborer at the site who only gave a first name of Adilson. “The contractors sometimes don’t pay, but what can we do?”


Laborers -- including illegal immigrants -- waiting in Somerville
to be picked up by contractors for day jobs.
(Staff photo by Lisa Hornak)

[LibDemAlways]

40. This has been the norm in CA for many years.

Interesting that it's now apparently gone nationwide. A willing pool of people looking for work- no questions asked - and plenty of employers looking to exploit them.

[MADem]

42. They're all over VA and MD and our nation's cap, too--it's everywhere

All through the south, you name it. The most popular hangouts are places like Home Depot parking lots, or places near lumber yards and plumbing parts joints--on 'industrial' roadways. CA hasn't had that lock on the "hop in" day labor thing for a decade or more!

[harpboy_ak]

52. He's REQUIRED to request proof

Saenz said he had never requested any proof from his employees to show they are here legally.

Federal law requires him to request proof. New employees need to fill out a Form I-9 and furnish TWO documents proving their citizenship or eligibility to work in the US. See the PDF form and instructions at http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-9.pdf

Everywhere I've worked they made copies of the documents.

At the very least, he violated that part of the law. Want to bet that he also didn't withhold any taxes, UI, Social Security... ?

[Stevious]

22. Aw, geez!

busted!

:toast:

[ckramer]

24. Aw Geez, forget about the presidential ambition, Rummy!

You are done!

[Janice325]

25. haha!

Asked by a reporter yesterday about his use of Community Lawn Service with a Heart, Romney, who was hosting the Republican Governors Association conference in Miami, said, "Aw, geez," and walked away.
:rofl:

[msatterwhite]

26. Illegal immigrants toiled for (Mass.) governor (Romney)

I'm actually slightly sympathetic to Mr. Romney here, or perhaps it would be more accurate that I'm not all that critical of his actions. A few years ago I hired a company to put a new roof on my house. When the crew showed up they were all obviously Hispanic. Judging by their accents I would say the majority were Mexican (I lived in Latin America for several years and speak Spanish; they were a bit surprised that this blond, blue-eyed gringo spoke Spanish to them with a pronounced Mexican accent). I don't know for sure about anyone's legal status, but I would be surprised if all of them were here legally.

Was I supposed to verify their status after the old roof was already torn off (which is the stage the work was at when I came home and found them working for the first time) or let them finish? Afterward I did a bit of asking around, and pretty much everyone I talked to who had had roof work done in the last several years told me that while the owners of the companies were usually Anglo, most or all of the work crews were Latino. I'm not sure it would have been possible to have a new roof put on without using Hispanics, legal or not. I should mention that the crew was very hardworking, finished on time and in budget, did a good cleanup, and so far at least the roof is holding up just fine and looks great.

I realize the parallel isn't exact, as Mr. Romney apparently had an ongoing relationship with the landscaping company and my roof was a one-shot deal, but still, doesn't the legal responsibility belong to the actual employer? Should we check the green cards of kitchen workers when we go to a restaurant, or is that the boss's job? How easy would it be to find a landscaping company there that doesn't employ illegal aliens, anyway? If someone of obviously foreign origin attends to me in a store, should I ask the owner if they are legal before making my purchase? Should I demand proof? How much effort should one expend finding out the legal status of someone else's employees?

I agree that if someone hires a maid or nanny (or other employee) directly, they have an obvious duty to check on their legal status, as well as pay social security, etc., but surely that is a different matter than using the services of an entirely independent company.

You can certainly argue that it would have been smart, at the least, for someone who speaks out about illegal immigration to be more careful about appearances than you or I might need to be. And for sure, just saying "jeez" and walking away wasn't a very helpful response, but I'm still not quite ready to jump on the critical bandwagon on this one.

[mac56]

31. Welcome to DU.

A couple of major differences here. You, as far as I know, aren't the governor of a US state; aren't running for the GOP nomination for president; and haven't been openly critical in the media about illegal aliens.

It's not the fact that work was done by undocumented workers. It's the hypocrisy.

So I'm squarely on the critical bandwagon.

[truthisfreedom]

47. He's a hypocrite. On the other hand, I'm not... I don't care if illegal immigrants work on my house

as long as they're paying taxes and SS. If they're helping our economy and carrying their fair share of the tax burden, let them work. Let them do labor that nobody else wants to do, like picking vegetables and fruit and doing landscaping and roofing. It's dangerous, backbreaking work, and if they're willing to risk their lives and lower backs to do it, I say amen.

[liberal hypnotist]

27. Carpetbagger Romey another silverspoon politician

Mitt ran for govenor of Mass from Michigan. How can you blame him for not knowing who cleans his yard. Would you go near Guatemalans if you were Mitt. Another William Zanzinger. And he's pretty!
Now, he'll ahve to fire the maid.

[Herman74]

33. That Crash You Just Heard...

...was that of Romney's chances of getting the Republican nomination for President in 2008. The reactionaries that comprise the Republican base are xenophobic, and so bye-bye, Mitt.

[MADem]

41. Yep, get your ass in the Zoe Baird, Kimba Wood and Bernie Kerik line!!!

Though Bernie's hiring practices were only the tip of his shitflecked iceberg, he hung his hat on that excuse!

And make no mistake, the GOP will hang THEIR hats on the "illegal" excuse when it comes to Mittsy Shittsy. And breathe a MASSIVE sigh of relief while so doing! They won't have to even say a word about the 'funny underwear, yeah-they-SAY-they-aren't-polygamists, Ah don't remember no damn lizard in the Bible,' Mormon aspect of his candidacy. To some factions in the GOP, this is the best news they've gotten this season--at least Skeletor has been wounded!!

[tanyev]

45. Oh, no. IOKIYAR.

Freeper spin:

I am not a fan of romney but hardly a fair article. It would be like saying.... " sir did you realize that chicken you ate in your mcNugget ( if it is actually chicken) was fed by an illegal immigrant on a farm in arkansas?

*****
And what does this have to do with Romney?

This lawn care company probably works on hundreds of homes, but the media decided to focus on the fact they cut Romney's lawn.

*****
Now, did the same paper send a team out to find out who cuts Teddy's yards,or Kerry's, or Hillary's, or Pelosi's....

*****
Here we go again, blame Romney for something he had no control over. Democrats have never gotten Romney. He's so squeaky clean that they have to hold him responsible for the acts of those around him. They're just not capable of grasping the concept of a politician that isn't a drunk, womanizing lothario.

etc., etc., etc.


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1747136/posts

[Vinca]

43. Whoa - that's almost as bad as an extra wife turning up.

:rofl:

[IWantAChange]

44. How has Faux News reported the story? Or haven't they??

Thank goodness for the fair and balanced banner or most of us would think they are stooges for the GOP - or is it the other way around??

[GreatPirateRoberts]

46. Take out the Trash

Romney's trash, another psycho mormon. I bet he has a secred harem somewhere. He even looks like he smells consort hair spray...

[Up2Late]

48. "Aw, geez!" That's great!!!

Aw, geez folks, can't you just take my word for it, why ya have to start bringing reality into my fantasy world?:rofl:

[efhmc]

49. Yikes, I never thought to question the legality of the workers that the

lawn service here uses.

[UrbScotty]

51. "Romney...said, "Aw, geez," and walked away."

That's what I call cutting and running.

He's a scaredy cat. So much for the GOP being the macho party.