HERE IS AN ARTICLE I FOUND FROM THE SEATTLE TIMES.
The Minutemen are coming, and so far it looks like it's going to be an ugly sight.
The weekend after next, the citizen volunteer group famed for trying to catch migrants sneaking across America's southern border plans a new operation right here in Seattle. The target: local employers who hire illegal immigrants.
Check that. The target is employers who hire anyone who looks like an illegal immigrant.
The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps intends to set up shop at a popular day-laborer pickup spot in Seattle, such as the Home Depot south of Safeco Field. Anyone who hires the workers will be photographed, and the photos will be posted on the Web.
"The goal is to shame employers into hiring only legal workers," said Spencer Cohen, 36, a political consultant who is organizing the protest. "Americans are losing jobs to the illegal work force, and we want to bring attention to that."
I spoke to both Cohen and Tom Williams, of Deming, who is the "sector chief" of the state Minuteman group. Both have reasonable concerns about border security and how easy it is to sneak into America.
Sporadically since October, they have patrolled the Canadian border near Blaine, with a goal of helping U.S. border agents nab illegals. There has been zero result from this, good or bad.
But this latest idea of shaming employers who hire foreign-looking day laborers is so wrongheaded I can scarcely list all its moral and practical flaws in this space.
For starters, many day laborers are in this country legally. To assume that any who look Mexican are illegal is really the definition of racism. To try to whip up sentiment against an employer by posting such photos on the Internet smacks of McCarthyism.
The Web site where Cohen says he'll post the photos, www.operationshameonyou.org, is a virulent attack on the poor.
"We the people of the United States of America are fed up with day laborers who befoul our fair cities," it reads. "... Not only do they litter, they defecate and urinate anywhere they feel like, and sometimes right in view of the public.
"We can, by legal means, rid our cities of this nuisance."
Even if that were possible, it would likely "trigger a big, fat recession," says Mike Gempler of the Northwest Growers Association, a group of 500 farms.
He announced this week that Eastern Washington farms have 1,000 jobs paying a minimum of $9 an hour that they can't fill locally. So, using a federal guest-worker program, the farms are recruiting temporary laborers from ... Mexico.
"There are simply not enough legal residents or citizens in the U.S. to fill all the jobs in our economy," Gempler said. "Anti-immigration people are in deep denial about that."
The Minutemen say they're just trying to raise the alarm that our immigration system is broken.
"We're like a neighborhood-watch program, except our neighborhood is the entire country," Cohen said.
Some neighborhood. Our immigration system does need fixing, but demonizing any Hispanic looking for temp work is no way to start.
every scumball hanging around a 7-11 should be holding a valid green card or heading back to Mexico. I applaude the Minutemen...true patriots, unlike these whining illegal alien dirtbag supporters. What are the day laborers afraid of, if they are legally authorized to work in the US? Where are their VALID (not bogus) green cards? (up their a$$)
eljefe: where are their green cards, estupido? If these dirt***** crossed the land border, they came through Mexico, $hit for brains. Why didn't any of these day laborers show their green cards??? (HINT FOR THE MENTALLY IMPAIRED: THEY DIDN'T HAVE ONE)
We shot lynch all those brown people! Just like how we did the jews and n.iggas. I am with you 100%, get them all out of our country. We hate everything but white people.
The chinese and indians took the good paying jobs, and those menial jobs that are left for high school drop like is those brown people want to take. Get Out!
Someonelonely12: No one ever mentioned asking them for their green cards. What the minutemen are doing is taking pictures and posting on their website to supposively shame the people that hire them, without even verifying if they are illegal. so they just assume everybody that looks Mexican is an illegal. Now tell me that is not racist! . There is nothing right about what they are doing and shameful!
What "discriminatory" practice? The Minutemen or any American citizens have the right to patrol high crime areas and report crimes to the authorities, which is what the Minutemen are doing. This is in the grand old tradition of Neighborhood Watch and similar groups. Furthermore, what the Minutemen are doing is reporting EMPLOYERS of day laborers for possible violations of labor and tax laws. Even day laborers are supposed to file tax returns, and their employers are supposed to have documents they need to file as well.
I haven't heard of any crimes committed by the Minutemen, but I have heard of plenty by illegal aliens and smugglers along the border, including a few deadly crashes attributed to them, and of course the infamous incursion by drug smugglers "dressed as" the Mexican military with firepower.
What is "discriminatory" is for Mexicans or anyone else to believe they have a right to enter the U.S. illegally, and work illegally while the rest of the world has to go through ports of entry and while they and we obey our laws or risk penalties.
As for Mr. Gempler's comments, well, you might be interested to know that a fruit company in the Northwest just lost a RICO suit for hiring illegal aliens, and paid a $million fine. You can bet that that is prompting the offer of $9 an hour and the use of a guest worker program, BUT it proves nothing except that wages need to be higher to attract Americans. Also, growers on the West Coast have had a problem getting and keeping even illegal farm workers because these guys leave for jobs in construction paying $12 an hour, without the stoop labor. So, using the guest worker program, probably H2-A, is actually a bargain for the growers.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: AliBA,
once again, if these clowns were legal, why didn't they show their green cards? (cuz they don't have one). The Minutemen can take pictures, film who gets picked up, etc, and if scumbag employers don't like it, too effin bad. muestrenos sus tarjetas verdes, por favor...
Aliens are required to carry proof of their status with them under federal law. It just hasn't been enforced but was brought up after 9/11. If they're legally here, then they should have proof of their status with them.
who is asking them for their proof of status? No one is asking them! the minutemen are harrasing anyone that looks Mexican with out any clue to their immigration status. What they do is nothing short of racial profiling.
Someone12 said if they were legal, why didn't they show their green cards. That's what I was referring to.
As for harassing, ain't so. In fact, it's more likely day laborers who are doing the harassing of people entering stores and even of women and girls walking by. Taking someone's picture in a public place is not illegal, nor is posting it on the internet--as long as one does not slander them or use it for profit. They don't need to know their immigration status if they're day laborers. That's irrelevant as to whether the labor and tax laws are being followed by day laborers and their employers.
Also, local Latino organizations here in Maryland are trying the same tactic--against Minutemen, but they went so far as to target their children. Considering that at least one of these organizations receives federal funds, they're on shaky ground. They've gotten the ACLU into the act to monitor their interactions, if any, with the Minutemen.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: AliBA,
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