phxated_gratehouse

Employers? What employers? Here’s yet another Arpaio raid where reports name some of the suspected illegal immigrants but, once again, the people who hired them are shielded with anonymity. Arpaio and his posse were acting on a tip from a former Burlington Coat Factory manager and conducted the raid on Thursday to search for 10 suspected undocumented workers. They netted three. That someone who used to work there provided the tip should be a clue to the local MSM that some “knowingly” was going on there with respect to hiring illegal workers. Arpaio compared Social Security numbers to identify the suspects so it’s likely that this former manager was aware of the use of fraudulent documents. There’s more “knowingly” for ya, but don’t expect any reporters to pick up on that.

Not one article I’ve found so far about the raids says the reporter even attempted to get a comment from the current management. Sure, they’re probably not going to go on record and are highly unlikely to be prosecuted under the joke of a “toughest employer sanctions law in the nation” but the local news media could at least try to shine some light on the real immigration problem. We don’t have and illegal immigrant problem. We have an illegal employer problem. Again, everyone who isn’t a belligerent xenophobe or a Chamber of Commerce lackey knows this. This “comprehensive immigration reform” most people want ain’t gonna happen until the industries that employ most of the undocumented workers are made to act in an aboveboard manner. It’s obviously not going to come from the government, since both parties are in the pocket of the cheap labor lobby. It’s got to be public pressure. But the public is only getting coverage that focuses on the workers and not on those who hire them. If there was a concerted attempt to expose employers, and people started noticing the steady stream of “no comment” and “can’t be reached for comment” coming from managers and owners then maybe we’d see some pressure.