Perhaps you've heard by now: the Republican candidate who hopes to be the next governor of California (my fair state) employed an undocumented housekeeper for nine years. This is the same candidate, Meg Whitman, whose official campaign website contains the following policy statement about employers who hire undocumented migrants:
Modeled after drug seizure raids, Meg will institute a system where state and local law enforcement agencies conduct inspections of workplaces suspected of employing undocumented workers. First-time offenders will be required to pay a fine and have their business license suspended for 10 days. Second-time offenders will pay an additional fine and have their business license suspended for 30 days. Third-time offenders will have their business license permanently suspended and pay a substantial fine and other penalties.
The now-fired housekeeper, Nicky Diaz Santillan, claims that the former eBay CEO and would-be governor knew that she was undocumented and only dismissed her (using the words "I cannot help you...from now on you don't know me and I don't know you. You have never seen me and I have never seen you. Do you understand?") upon formally entering the Republican primary.
For her part, Meg Whitman claims that she was unaware of her employee's status until last year, when Ms. Diaz Santillan went to Ms. Whitman and her husband seeking help with her legal status. Ms. Diaz Santillan's camp has produced a copy of a letter sent from the Social Security Administration to Meg Whitman and her husband, Griffith Harsh, notifying them of a discrepancy between the social security number provided by the housekeeper and the records on file in the government.
Ms. Diaz Santillan is suing Meg Whitman for wages Whitman and her husband allegedly failed to pay, and while that may be a genuine concern for the former housekeeper of the perhaps-future governor, it's clear that Nicky Diaz Santillan has been surrounded by and is receiving legal aid from those who want to make political hay.
Ms. Diaz Santillan's attorney is celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred, whose written statements on this case read like political attack ads. Allred's left-leaning political proclivities are well-documented as are her ties to Whitman's Democratic opponent, Jerry Brown. The fact that this matter has come to light just a few days before absentee ballots are to be sent out comes as no surprise.
This is the kind of thing that happens in politics: sweet irony (or damnable inconvenience if you happen to like the candidate) in which an arrogant, out-of-touch, "rules-don't-apply-to-me" politician is hoisted with her own petard, roasted on her own mesquite -- you can choose the metaphor. Her former housekeeper has exposed Meg Whitman as a hypocrite, and Ms. Whitman is paying a steep political price for it.
Now, I'm one of those Californians who would consider it a great privilege not to have Meg Whitman as my governor, and, though it has been tempting to join in the fun sport of trashing the Whitman campaign, I hesitate to do a celebratory booty dance over this serious political gaffe.
For one thing, I've read the letter that Whitman and her husband received from the Social Security Administration (and so can you; it's available in PDF form on Gloria Allred's website). The letter does not suggest that Nicky Diaz Santillan was in the country illegally, only that her social security number didn't match her name. Whitman and her husband lied about the letter, which is another issue, but the letter isn't the smoking gun so many folks in California politics seem to believe it is.
More than that, I cannot get too worked up about Meg Whitman's recently exposed immigration double standard because I already knew she had a credibility problem in this area. Anyone who wants to use state and local law enforcement agents to crack down on illegal immigration (by the way, to date, federal courts have found such policies to be unconstitutional) but continues, without complaint, to eat food produced in California (or, indeed just about anywhere else in the United States) has some explaining to do, because to buy food in America is to participate in an agricultural economy that is almost entirely dependent upon cheap, undocumented migrant labor from Mexico and Central America. Same goes for those who insist that they are opposed to illegal immigration yet eat from clean plates at restaurants or sleep in fresh sheets when they stay in hotels. Few of us may directly employ migrants without papers, but all of us enjoy the fruit of their labor.
As a Christian and as a reader of the Gospels, I'm well aware that Jesus often called out the hypocrisy of those listening to his words, and every one of us should join in the Christ-like fight against hypocrisy, but in this struggle we would do best not to be distracted by the indiscretions of a couple of billionaires in a swank Bay Area suburb. Rather, as is usually prudent, we should begin by looking in the mirror.
Meg Whitman's immigration imbroglio | Opinion L.A. | Los Angeles Times
Meg Whitman's maid and immigration reform - latimes.com
Nicandra Diaz-Santillan, Whitman's 'Undocumented' Former Maid ...
Meg Whitman says she'd submit to polygraph - latimes.com
Meg Whitman Housekeeper Nicky Diaz Santillan Claims Mistreatment ...
Meg Whitman's Former Housekeeper: She Treated Me Like a Piece of ...
Meg has failed both 1 and 2 so buh-bye.
The answer to illegal immigrants not being taken advantage of for "cheap" labor is for them to not enter this country illegally in the first place. Apply for a visa and leave when the visa is up. Employers "knowingly" hiring illegal immigrants are wrong. We need to get to the source of the problem, enforcement. There are laws to fine businesses and deport those that are in this country illegally. We cannot excusing illegal behavior from either. Amnesty didn't solve this problem after 1986 and it won't solve it now.
I'm glad Obama is implementing the Secure Community program that will not allow any state/city to opt out. Obama:has deported 400,000 and counting
Read More:
LIB FRIENDLY LINK: http://www.ice.gov/pi/news/factsheets/secure_communities.htm”
Immigration is a complicated issue, and I don't really see how the conversation is helped by bumper-sticker-length platitudes such as those you propose. You say, for example, that "they should apply for a visa and then leave when the visa is up." But what if not getting a visa means being separated from loved ones, and what if no visas are available? And enforcement? How? Do we ask everyone who looks Mexican for a visa? What about the constitution? Amnesty did, in fact, solve a lot of problems, especially for those who were able to come out of the shadows.
1) she stated to the public (in tears) that Whitman should have know that she was an illegal immigrant. Those are her words not mine. Whether it is criminal or civil I'll let the courts handle that.
2) She forged, stole and used a SS number not issued to her by the federal government. this is a felony (makes her a criminal)
3) She committed perjury by lying on a federal issue I-9 employment documents (also a felony and makes her a criminal)
So she isn't just in violation of civil infraction (if she did in fact commit it which I doubt was the case) but in fact has committed several criminal infractions that could end her in jail. If an American committed any of these crimes they would be handed jail time and fines.
Our laws are in place to be as fair as possible. By omitting and ignoring these laws we might as well be a county of lawlessness. If she received a temporary visa then it is her duty to renew or exit the country so she is not breaking the law. If a citizen is commits a crime, we do not give them exceptions because they are going to be separated from their love ones. You break a law you suffer the consequences. That is called taking responsibility for ones action.
Since when has it been some sort of Christian virtue to break the law or to condone such activity? And since when have Christians been able to pick and choose which laws they will obey?
"Give unto Caesar what is Caesar's", even when you don't like what Caesar is doing. Seems to me that the author is picking the portions of the Bible he likes... or ignorant of them... or just perhaps a hypocrite himself.
The argument that her parents brought her so that makes it OK for her to be here is false and holds absolutely no water. If that's the case, it is her misfortune that her parents would do something that would hurt her later in life, but criminals hurt their families and friends all the time. She still needs to leave. If she wants to come back, that's fine as long as she does it legally.
This woman lied - very Christian attribute, don't you think - to obtain employment. She lied to maintain that employment - a $23 per hour job that I'm sure a good many Americans wouldn't have minded doing. She lied to remain in the United States. If anything, she has proven that she is a liar. What sense of warped logic would lead you to believe her when she now claims to be exploited?!
Just a hunch, but I'm betting that she's lying about that too. It fits with her track record.
F'rinstance, I take 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you' to heart, and discard the rest as either history or metaphor.
of Diaz immigration attorney.
Chicanos are upset because Jerry Moonlunitic has cause employers to shy away from hiring all
Hispanics.
Look. I don't believe most illegals come here to sponge off the system. They come to work and give their kids a chance at a better life. But like I have said on other posts, there is a guilty party here. It just isn't Whitman.
Meg Whitman spends $120,000,000 of her money and doesn't vote? If you turn off the volume and judge by deed's she not adding up to Californians. Any native knows if there maid is legal, I do...lol .I get a disingenuous vib from her.
It also needs to be pointed out that the Social Security letters have no force of law. There is absolutely no requirement for employers to investigate after receiving them. The reason for this is that the Social Security Administration knows that employers can be sued for asking too many questions.
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Stuff like this is the reason so many churches are going south on the religious factions. She didn't know the lady was an illegal alien until she fired her, and she didn't report her because she had an absence of documents... not a sign on her head saying she was an illegal alien. If she had done anything else, the ACLU would have bounced her for a million bucks so what she .did. do, was what she .could. do.
Old Ben up there is acting like one of those people who want very much to spend our money. Gimme, gimme, gimme. What he doesn't do that is so critical to us all is suggest the Mexican Government has a moral obligation to treat their people a whole lot better. Ooooh. Ben may not know that though.