Hometown Pride

[AtmaWeapon]

Fear follows largest workplace raid in U.S. history (http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/08/27/immigrant.raid.ap/index.html).

Looks like my old hometown managed to make the news for something; apparently about 600 illegal workers were rounded up earlier this week. The highlight of the news coverage was when the reporter asked the ICE agent, "Are you planning on raiding any other businesses in the coming weeks?" The agent looked at her like she was from the moon and told her no comment.

All I can say is I'm sad that all the "DEM MESSICANS TAKEN OUR JOBS" crowd was actually right this time.

*edit* Oh God how did this end up in GGD? Could someone awesome move this to GD for me?

[Cloral]

lol I thought this was going to be a games competition or something when I read the title.

This reminds me of a couple years ago when I was in Sedona. One day we went to a restaurant for lunch, just to be told that they were closed. During lunch? There was another restaurant downstairs from it though so we went there. We sat down, ordered lunch, and about two minutes later a different waiter came by to give us our check. We politely explained that we hadn't yet gotten our food, and a good while later we finally got it. Turns out the INS had done a raid that day, and so all the illegals ditched. Our first waiter was one of the illegals. Later that evening I was sitting in the hot tub at our hotel, and I overheard some of the people who worked there talking about how they had to work extra that day because all the illegals there had ditched.

So yeah, that kind of thing happens.

[rock_nog]

We had a similar situation up here in St. Paul about a year ago. It was really tragic, families were being split up, and there were very real concerns that the company involved might go under due to the inability to replace all the workers who were detained.

All I've got to say is, I know it's the law and all, and we should uphold the law, obviously. But sometimes, especially when situations like this arise, I can't help but wonder if the cure is worse than the disease. Eh, who am I to say?

[MottZilla]

Moved it for you.

The retarded questions from reporters is normal. They all ask the most retarded questions.

[AlexMax]

All I've got to say is, I know it's the law and all, and we should uphold the law, obviously. But sometimes, especially when situations like this arise, I can't help but wonder if the cure is worse than the disease. Eh, who am I to say?

Morality derived from law for laws sake is dangerous ground to tread.

[AtmaWeapon]

We had a similar situation up here in St. Paul about a year ago. It was really tragic, families were being split up, and there were very real concerns that the company involved might go under due to the inability to replace all the workers who were detained.

All I've got to say is, I know it's the law and all, and we should uphold the law, obviously. But sometimes, especially when situations like this arise, I can't help but wonder if the cure is worse than the disease. Eh, who am I to say?Let's consider a similar, but analogous scenario.

John just isn't able to feed his children, have an HDTV, drive 3 escalades linked together, and own a yacht on his working-class salary, so obviously he needs a new source of income. He figures out that his neighbor has more money than he does, and said neighbor buries it in his backyard. John tells his wife that he's going to take the money from the neighbor's backyard. John gets pretty rich off of this, and it lasts for a year or two. Then, his neighbor catches John and gets him arrested.

John's wife approaches the newscasters with tears in her eyes, decrying how her family is now torn apart by the breadwinner being incarcerated, and her kids don't know when they'll see their daddy again. Do you feel sorry for her?

---

Companies that hire illegal immigrants do real damage to the economy. They don't provide benefits to the workers, and typically pay less than minimum wage. The workers have nowhere to turn for help: if they notify the police they'll be deported. The family knows they have illegally entered the country, and if they are caught they will be deported. They do it anyway.

I have no sympathy for someone who knows they are committing a crime and is upset because there are consequences for breaking the law.

That said, the true villain here is Howard Industries: by knowingly employing illegal immigrants they are denying jobs to the residents of the area. By paying reduced salaries and benefits they are ignoring the basic human rights that our government feels are important. By giving the workers jobs, they are encouraging ever more illegal immigrants to enter the country. I hope they had state contracts and lose their charter for 3 years; that company is about as good an example of good-ole-boy corruption as it comes. I still want the people that were caught deported though.

[aces2022]

Let's consider a similar, but analogous scenario.

John just isn't able to feed his children, have an HDTV, drive 3 escalades linked together, and own a yacht on his working-class salary, so obviously he needs a new source of income. He figures out that his neighbor has more money than he does, and said neighbor buries it in his backyard. John tells his wife that he's going to take the money from the neighbor's backyard. John gets pretty rich off of this, and it lasts for a year or two. Then, his neighbor catches John and gets him arrested.

John's wife approaches the newscasters with tears in her eyes, decrying how her family is now torn apart by the breadwinner being incarcerated, and her kids don't know when they'll see their daddy again. Do you feel sorry for her?

---


I've never thought of it like that.
I wish my town had the problem that there were too many jobs too. It's so hard to find a good job these days let alone a job at all. It's just who you know anymore. I wanna yacht :uhoh: