Updated
Yesterday, I made the suggestion that ICE should find out which companies are closed because their illegal employees are attending the illegal immigrant protests and then raid those companies.
Well, take a look at the letter Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) and Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) sent today to Julie Myers, Assistant Secretary of ICE:
Dear Ms. Myers,
As you are aware, pro-illegal immigration rallies are taking place throughout the United States today. Those organizing the rallies have encouraged illegal aliens to refrain from going to work as a sign of protest.
Too often, we presume that fault lies with the illegal migrant worker, but we need to recognize that the employer broke the law by hiring the illegal alien. We believe the Federal government has an obligation to enforce the nation’s immigration laws and must actively investigate any and all instances where it is apparent industries have knowingly and willingly hired those who entered this country illegally.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) should pursue the multiple reports in the news media today regarding companies which have been forced to halt operations because large numbers of their employees appear to be in the United States illegally and are participating in the protest rallies.
ICE has an obligation to use this public information to enforce immigration laws. We respectfully request that you look into this matter and report back to us on your findings.
Thank you for your immediate consideration to this important matter.
Sincerely,
/s/
Jack Kingston
Member of Congress/s/
Marsha Blackburn
Member of Congress###
A company’s announcement that it is required to close because employees are attending an illegal immigration protest sounds like probable cause to me.
John Hawkins at Right Wing News is also covering Reps. Kingston and Blackburn’s request.
Update: Rep. John Hostettler sent a letter to Secretary Myers as well. Hot Air has the audio of Rep. Hostettler discussing his letter on Fox News.
Update II: More companies for ICE to investigate.
Good idea. As long as only SMALL co’s are targeted.
Well they could start with every meat packing plant in flyover country, but then again, last time they did that they netted half a dozen illegals and nailed to low level ‘manager’ and Tyson appealed the fines and got off without so much as a slap on the wrist.
While I support what Reps. Kingston and Blackburn are trying to do, I must wonder if they’ll whistle a different tune if businesses in their districts get raided.
Anyway…
The failure of ICE to enforce the immigration laws AND their failure to hold companies accountable for breaking the employment laws is making a mockery of the rule of law in our country.
Where does the fault lie?
Some of it lies with the illegals themselves, though in the main I am not inclined to be hard on them: they are looking for a better life, and I have no desire to cast myself as Javert to their Jean Valjean.
Much of it lies with the companies that make little or no effort to determine if their employees are “legal”. However, even in this I am inclined toward understanding if not mercy. I have worked around illegals and, in the main, they were as conscientious and diligent a group of employees as anybody could ask for. Why in the world should a company bend over backwards to AVOID hiring people like that?
The bulk of the blame, however, lies with all of us. Who elected the politicians who have made the border into a sieve? Who demands the lowest possible prices for things like agricultural products, or hires illegals to cut their lawns, wash their cars, and mind their children?
We now have as many as 20 million people in our country that, if we didn’t exactly invite to come here, certainly didn’t meet with too many complaints when they came in through the doors we left open. Now, we’re faced with a bit of a crisis…
And it’s all of our own making.
Glad you’re reading the comments section Kim, and I’m flattered that you took my comment to heart and made it your own a couple of days later- but I’m still curious why you never reply openly?
From: Carl’s Jr., LA
To: Workers who dissapeared yesterday
Congratulations! You’re fired.
Usted no puede, boys.
Semanticleo said:
I’m confused, serious or satire? Please explain. Thanks.
hmmm.. today we shut down downtown Denver at noon by marching with legal permit. I have lived in this “cowtown” for most of my 56 years and never been a part of something this big. As a grade school Substitute teacher I refused all job offers and carried my sign “I love to teach these children”
The folks marching today knew the issue, H.B. 4437. I am waiting for the massive marches in support of H.B. 4437. Where are they? Where are you? The incredible cross section of folks protesting in Denver did not claim to know what the “right” solution might be. What we know is that it is NOT 4437. By they way when the pledge was recited first in English and then in Spanish the volume for both was loudest at “with liberty and justice for all” “libertad y justicia para todos” We shall overcome someday…(hey I am working on the paragraph thing)
serious or satire? Please explain
Satire.
The first thing to do if you really want to
reduce the illegals is start fining co’s who
hire $1000 per day per perp. Start with
huge fast food franchisees, Tyson foods,
WalMart etc. Word will trickle down to the
small co’s pretty pronto.
Semanticleo, thanks. Rather get it straight than go off on a tangent. Most of the time I get satire, but I guess this went over my peanut head.
Be careful using trickle down though, lefties seem to have a problem with that phrase. ;-}
Drew E
Yippe Skippee,now lets all sit around the campfire and sing Kumbyahh,puff the magic dragon and one tin soldier rides away..
Be careful using trickle down though, lefties seem to have a problem with that phrase. ;-}
Wave man you err once again. I am the penultimate
leftwing BushHater.
Probable cause my *ss. What is this, Nazi Germany? A business or corporation that is supports the protest should be subeject to investigation? Asolutely absurd. What have they done that is against the law? What probable cause is there?
And after you answer that they’ve done nothing wrong except disagree with your politics tell us how on earth you can suggest that they should be investigated?
Amazing that you conservatives are so quick to give up the rights of others…. absolutely amazing. All that a company’s announcement that it has to close because its employees were protesting today proves is…. that this particular company has a large number of employees who are supportive of the protest. That proves nothing.
This is America Kim. Founded on freedom, remember.
Enemies of the right-wing blogosphere should be subject to investigation? … incredible.
Then you should know what I’m talking about… ;-}
Have a good evening. BTW, I like the handle, Semanticleo. Caught my eye. Creative.
wave man;
Do indeed.
thx
Drew
Please explain to me why people here ILLEGALLY should be rewarded with amnesty while others who couldn’t sneak across the border with their own country’s encouragment and help are pushed to the back of the line?
Is the concept of “rude” behavior lost with you and the “all nations but the United States has the right to a secure border” ilk?
Then again, YOU feed at the public trough so I’m sure your contempt for taxpayers is politically engrained.
Probable cause my *ss. What is this, Nazi Germany? A business or corporation that is supports the protest should be subeject to investigation? Asolutely absurd. What have they done that is against the law? What probable cause is there?
Apparently, you didn’t read the letter carefully:
“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) should pursue the multiple reports in the news media today regarding companies which have been forced to halt operations because large numbers of their employees appear to be in the United States illegally and are participating in the protest rallies.”
Not support, FORCED!
If you think this is Nazi Germany, you are free to goose-step your posterior to a more tolerant and civilized country, like France, perhaps.
Perhaps I should repeat myself, so it sinks in:
“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) should pursue the multiple reports in the news media today regarding companies which have been…
FORCED
…to halt operations because large numbers of their employees appear to be in the United States illegally and are participating in the protest rallies.”
Just in case you have trouble parsing a sentence. I’ll go further:
FORCED:
transitive verb, past tense of FORCE:
To compel through pressure or necessity
And after you answer that they’ve done nothing wrong except disagree with your politics tell us how on earth you can suggest that they should be investigated?
The ICE gets a warrant for the company’s I-9 records, and compares the socials to the SSA database. Any workers who don’t HAVE a I-9 on record are summarily fired/arrested, and the company has some ‘splainin’ to do, Lucy!
First, the oil commodities market is a fungible market, and traders don’t care whether the oil is domestically produced or not. Traders (not the oil companies) set the market price.”
And the profit on gasoline produced from domestically-produced oil takes a huge jump – a windfall.
Exxon (to pick one company) had a $8 billion dollar increase in profits…a big jump to be sure, however:
http://money.cnn.com/2006/04/27/news/companies/exxon/
“…they’ve also returned lots of the profits to shareholders.
Exxon returned $7 billion to shareholders in the form of dividends and share buybacks in the first quarter of 2006, a 67 percent increase from the prior year.”
As I’ve mentioned, more profits results in more money going back to shareholders, many of which are retirement funds.
Also in the article:
“In its earnings statement, the company [Exxon] said it spent $4.8 billion on capital investment and exploration projects this quarter.”
As I also mentioned, the profits don’t sit under a mattress (or on it for the CEO to laciviously roll around in, they are used to fund further projects to (gasp) earn MORE profit! Horrors!
In other words, what’s the fucking problem with making some money, especially after LOSING money after nearly a decade?
“You moan about the WINDFALL profits, yet you are strangely silent about the period during the 80s when the bottom fell completely out of the oil industry due the crashing of the price of oil. Production (domestic) dropped dramatically. It was far cheaper to buy the oil off the market than to expend money to drill here (and to deal with the regulatory-enviromental lobby headaches that it involved.) Oil companies lost lots of money then.”
Why are you changing the subject. We were talking about the windfall profis received by the oil companies during the last 3 months. Nothing that has happened in the past, especially 25 years ago, entitles the oil companies to windfall profits now
1. It has everything to do with the subject, if you consider making a tidy profit after suffering profit losses for YEARS a “windfall”. And, yes, with all the investement that the companies have made in exploration/drilling, etc, and the BILLIONS of money that they’ve spent on it, damn right they have the right to earn some of it back.
— do you really have the nerve to suggest that we OWE the oil companies? Lol! Whose paying your salary?
2. If you are willing to buy the product at the price set, yes you OWE the company, unless you are suggesting that they give it away for free.
3. Paychex pays my salary, which has nothing to do with the subject at hand (talk about changing subjects)
You also seem to think that this profit is going to be tucked under some CEO’s queen-sized mattress to be saved for a rainy day. Well, no, sunshine, it is used for more exploration/refining.”
That’s Mr. Sunshine to you…
Be grateful that I didn’t use my second, more scatological title instead…take what you can get.
and since everyone pays taxes on profits, including you and me, so should the oil companies.
And they DO, you half-wit:
http://www.taxfoundation.org/news/show/1321.html
“It is important to remember that net income reported on financial statements, is the result of subtracting income-based taxes from corporate gross earnings. Before shareholders receive a return on their investment, the government takes its significant share off the top…During 2005, these three companies paid a combined corporate income tax burden of $44.3 billion on their reported gross earnings. Compared to last year’s combined corporate income taxes of $29.7 billion, their burden for 2005 has increased by 49.2 percent and follows the overall trend of escalating corporate tax collections in the United States. In addition to corporate income taxes, the same companies paid or remitted over $114.5 billion in other taxes in 2005, including franchise, payroll, property, severance and excise taxes.”
There’s also a handy chart at the link, showing that the average Corporate Income Taxes of ConocoPhillips, Chevron and Exxon Mobil per Share Exceed 69 Percent of Net Earnings per Share
Read the article carefully before you spout off such unbelievable nonsense.
“Need I also remind you that when the oil company profits go up, so do the shareholder’s stocks and dividends. Many, MANY, 401-Ks and retirement plans are involved in such stocks. What hurts the oil companies will ultimately hurt shareholders, and those whose retirement incomes are invested in such stocks.”
Lol! – What are you doing — cutting and pasting straight out of the VolPac newsletter? So everyone should pay too much for gasoline so that the shareholders cna receive a better profit – be sure to put that into the Repubulican platform!
(wait a minute — it already is… never mind)
1. I don’t know who VolPac is, and if it exists I challenge you to find said cut-and-paste, with URL (you will note I have been citing my sources here).
2. Define “too much.” What is too much? $1.00? $2.00. My aunt in Esher pays about 70p/litre…that’s about $4.50/gallon, of which 70% of it is due to road tax. Consider yourself lucky you are only paying $2.70 here.
We’re only talking about Windfall Profits on gasoline — remember?
As I stated, the profits announced by Exxon, come not ONLY from gasoline/petrol. They are TOTAL profits, which include plastics, etc. AT&T doesn’t JUST do long-distance service anymore either.
“And we don’t produce as much domestically as we could anyway, thanks to above regulatory-enviromental lobby matters. And, again, demand has skyrocketed in Asia (particularly India and China–that’s some 12 billion people over there). Even a high-schooler can figure out that when demand rises, and supplies stay the same or decrease, prices rise. Solution: Decrease demand (through fuel efficiency, though that won’t make much of a dent considering the Asian market is not interested in efficiency) or increase supply (via more domestic drilling, offshore and on land, and we know who’s gonna stop that, don’t we?)”
The price of oil is rising worldwide. Yes, even you have that one figured out — but here the issue is Windfall Profits on gasoline produced from domestic production.
1. Of course I figured it out, I use logic, not some left-tract whining talking point.
2. No, the issue being pushed in the media is “windfall profits” in general, not specifically from domestic sources. And, by the way, all of our gasoline is domestically produced, pretty much…that’s where the refineries are, HERE.
You don’t have to like paying more for your gas than you did 2 years ago, neither do I, but welcome to the free market. It could be much worse: In the 70s, thanks to a shortage of crude AND GOVERNMENT PRICE FREEZING, the overall price rose even higher (in 70s dollars), long queues, odd/even day rationing, and a 10 gal limit on gas (when at the time, most tanks took 20 gals and got, at best, about 10 miles/gallon.)
So, save your complaints until you see that sort of nonsense happening again.
Oops, disregard above, that was for another thread. My mistake.
Hmmmm.
People without the power need to protest.
People with the power don’t need to protest because they already have the power.
Hmmmm.
The federal government doesn’t *need* probable cause to force a company to open it’s employee records because that implicit permission was written into the law.
This isn’t some sort of doctor or lawyer privledge situation.
yes, were not talking Limbaughs medical records here.
“Perhaps I should repeat myself, so it sinks in:
“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) should pursue the multiple reports in the news media today regarding companies which have been…
FORCED
…to halt operations because large numbers of their employees appear to be in the United States illegally and are participating in the protest rallies.”
Just in case you have trouble parsing a sentence. I’ll go further:
FORCED:
transitive verb, past tense of FORCE:
To compel through pressure or necessity.”
Do you talk just to hear yourself? Did you not even read the post on which this comment thread is based, moron?
Here’s what Kim wrote:
“A company’s announcement that it is required to close because employees are attending an illegal immigration protest sounds like probable cause to me.”
Doesn’t say anything about FORCED dipstick.
And I apologize to other readers of this thread on your behalf – since you don’t have the huevos to do it yourself.
“The federal government doesn’t *need* probable cause to force a company to open it’s employee records because that implicit permission was written into the law. This isn’t some sort of doctor or lawyer privledge situation.
“Probable cause” is the term chosen by the post’s author.
And if anyone is trying to make the point that only those companies who have stated “We have so many undocumented employers who were protesting that we had to close”… should be the companies who are investigated, I agree. When the anti-immigration hate talk on this blog became race-based I made the point that no one was complaining about the companies who lure these people into the US and hire them illegally.
Targeting for investigation those companies who closed in support of the protests is clearly police-state mentality…
…and that is exactly what Kim suggested
The letter on which the post was based and was posted above:
To which Lee replied:
– MikeB
Is immigration a greater problem now than 3 years ago? Not really. It has been raised because Iraq is in the tank. It has been raised because we no longer shudder at color coded terror alerts. It has been raised because homophobia is fading. It has been raised because we cannot continue to cut taxes for the very rich, encourage Tyco like off-shore tax breaks and pay more for the War, Katrina and health care. The foundation that has elected Rupublicans to be elected has crumbled. Of course there is the continuing scandle stuff involving mostly Republicans. Check out the traditional definition of red herring.
Drew: ” I am waiting for the massive marches in support of H.B. 4437. Where are they? Where are you?”
As someone else mentioned, we don’t need to march because we are legally and morally in the right regarding illegal immigration, and due to the recent protests our politicians are getting an earful from legal American voters – and they will pay attention or else.
Besides, there aren’t enough streets in the nation to hold us…
Lee:
And I apologize to other readers of this thread on your behalf – since you don’t have the huevos to do it yourself.
You don’t speak for me, so ferme la bouche…
Pendejo.
MikeB:
Lee has problems with reading comprehension, unless the words “Bush” and “Hitler” appear in the same sentence. I’ve tried debating politely, but apparently Lee’s job (as well as a few others here) is to be a pot-stirrer. A few, like mantis, can debate civilly, even if they disagree with my points or my philosophy. Which has been a major problem with the Left these days (one of the reasons I stopped being a lefty, myself…many of the fringe have taken over and reduced all efforts to debate to mudslinging. Frankly, it was embarrasing to be associated with them anymore.)
MikeB:
Forget about pointing out the word “forced” from the letter. I even parsed it down so a kindergartener could grok it, but I guess I was crediting Lee too much. 🙁