The Opinion Blog

Illegals treated in un-kosher fashion

Ripped from the wires ... Robyn Blumner provides a contrarian view of the recent immigration-enforcement raid on an Iowa slaughterhouse -- that it was a mission of mercy, not persecution:

By Robyn Blumner

The list of allegations against the Postville, Iowa, slaughterhouse, recently raided by federal officials for its use of illegal immigrant workers, reads like a story collectively written by Upton Sinclair, Charles Dickens and Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Agriprocessors, the nation's largest kosher meatpacking plant, is at the center of page after page of sickening accusations. These are contained in an affidavit for a search warrant filed by a federal agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

No habla ingles? No problemo, says Obama

Ripped from the wires ... Kathleen Parker notes the contrasts in the ways that John McCain and Barack Obama pander -- er,appeal -- to Hispanic voters:

By KATHLEEN PARKER

La cucaracha, la cucaracha, ya no puede caminar. La cucaracha, la cuca ...

Oh, perdon. I was just tuning up for an interview with Baracko Obama and Juan McCain.

Juan y Baracko have been busy lately wooing los que hablan espanol. That is, people who speak Spanish. With an estimated 9.2 million Hispanic votes in play this November, the stakes are high. And the pandering is in high gear.

Immigrant grapevine counsels against illegal border crossings

Ripped from the wires ... Forget building a wall at the Mexican border, says Texas writer Victor Landa. Our deteriorating economy is taking care of illegal immigration for us:

By VICTOR LANDA

Who needs moats, walls or virtual fences? The strength and reach of America's most powerful assets are doing a good job of dissuading immigration.

Americans believe that the economy is in bad shape. And the lack of confidence is spreading. The latest calculation is grim.

The latest report from the Conference Board (the group that measures the confidence level) says consumer confidence which had declined in April, continued its downward trend in May. The Index now stands at 57.2, down from 62.8 in April. The Present Situation Index decreased to 74.4 from 81.9. The Expectations Index declined to 45.7 from 50.0 in April.

Bad news travels fast. Word from communities south of the border is that a life-gambling trip to the United States in search of work is not worth the effort.

Do immigration reform right or not at all

Today's editorial notes the resumption in Columbia of negotations toward an S.C. immigration-reform package:

On no issue are South Carolinians more insistent on legislative action than immigration reform. Residents want the General Assembly to plug the federal immigration policy gaps that allow thousands of undocumented persons to live and work in the state.

Legislators have tried to satisfy the public demand for action but thus far are stalemated on how, exactly, to do so. This week, senators and representatives will make one last attempt to agree on legislation that not only makes South Carolina less hospitable to undocumented foreign workers but is also enforceable long term.

Needed: An S.C. immigration bill that actually works

Friends: Here's an advance look at the newspaper's editorial for Friday. I'd be interested in reading your thoughts, if you have any. Thanks, dc.

A slim majority of S.C. senators are taking a drubbing this week because -- horrors! -- they wish to pass an immigration-reform law that regulators and prosecutors can actually enforce. The S.C. House and Gov. Mark Sanford seem more interested in passing a bill that "gets tough'' on employers who use foreign labor, with insufficient regard for whether the measure stands up in court.

The pressure on senators to "do something, fast," is intense. Some residents apparently want the heads of employers who hire illegals to be mounted on spikes along public roads. Sanford and the House leadership, meanwhile, are conducting an intense public-relations campaign that ridicules the Senate for refusing to pass an employer-crackdown bill that the House adopted last week.

Blame S.C. House for immigration-reform mess

Today's editorial helps explains how the S.C. immigration-reform bill, once on track toward smooth passage, got derailed:

Political mistake may kill immigration reform

Our representatives in the S.C. House would have us believe it's the Senate's fault that immigration reform, the legislation about which South Carolinians putatively care most, is stalled and well may fail. While senators are a mite too gleeful in citing their rules as justification for inaction, the fault for the pending crash-and-burn of immigration reform lies with the House.

Stealing from illegals no big deal in tomato country

Ripped from the wires ... Here's a piece, by Robyn Blumner of the St. Petersburg Times, that illustrates perfectly the tragedy and cynicism of illegal immigration -- the ease with which Florida tomato growers exploit illegal workers, and the passivity with which workers accept their exploitation.

By Robyn Blumner

IMMOKALEE, Fla. -- It is hard to believe that this is America in 2008. It seems more like Upton Sinclair's turn of the century Chicago stockyards or Edward R. Murrow's "Harvest of Shame'' of 1960. But it is today that the tomato pickers of Immokalee, Fla., toil under oppressive, retrograde conditions.

Point: States right to seek immigration controls

Friends: Here's one-half of an interesting discussion on this timely issue. The opposing argument is below. dc

By Philip J. Romero

EUGENE, Ore. -- As the saying goes, nature abhors a vacuum. On immigration policy, for most of the last 20 years -- since the last immigration "reform'' act was passed in Congress in 1986 -- a vacuum is about all that has emanated from Washington.

So states are attempting what the Feds won't do. The illegal immigrant problem that was first placed on the national radar by California in the early 1990s has expanded beyond a handful of border states to almost every state in the union, with only vacuous statements from our national leaders.''

Counterpoint: States wrong to seek immigration controls

Friends: Here's one-half of an interesting discussion on this most timely issue. The opposing argument is above. dc

By Illene Durst

SAN DIEGO -- Arizona's recent attempt to halt the employment of the undocumented within its borders will not deter more workers from crossing the border.

Exasperated with what it perceives as the federal government's failure to control our border with Mexico, Arizona will now sanction Arizona employers who knowingly hire the undocumented. Such employers run a serious risk of losing their licenses to operate a business.

Sanford urges two-front war with Homeland Security

Today's editorial notes that Gov. Mark Sanford is urging legislators to confront the federal government over immigration policy.

"Gov. Mark Sanford is already at war with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security over its edict that driver's licenses be upgraded into de facto national identity cards, at the states' expense. Last week, he asked S.C. legislators to widen the war to include Homeland Security's incompetent handling of foreign worker verification.

"Sanford said any reform bill reaching his desk should crack down on S.C. private employers who hire illegal workers. He scoffed at the bills passed this year by the House and Senate as 'ineffectual.'