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.
Ok, let me see if I can get this straight. LA's mayor is asking the immigration enforcement folks to ignore businesses that hire illegal immigrants if they aren't being abused because it could have "severe and long-lasting effects" on the local economy?
Mayor, I don't think you understand how the law works here. People who immigrate here have to follow certain rules, and if those rules are broken, they can and often times are, deported.
Businesses that hire illegal immigrants are paying lesser wages and they are taking jobs from hard working Americans.
Whether you like it or not, these businesses are breaking the law and you are trying to enable that behavior.
Travis
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