http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_and_Prosperity_Partnership_of_North_America
Excerpt:
The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) was a region-level dialogue with the stated purpose of providing greater cooperation on security and economic issues.[1] The Partnership was founded in Waco, Texas on March 23, 2005 by Paul Martin, Prime Minister of Canada, Vicente Fox, President of Mexico, and George W. Bush, President of the United States.[1] It was the second of such regional-level agreements involving the United States of America following the 1997 Partnership for Prosperity and Security in the Caribbean (PPS). Since August 2009 it is no longer an active initiative of any of the original dialogue partners.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partnership_for_Prosperity_and_Security_in_the_Caribbean
Excerpt:
Partnership for Prosperity and Security in the Caribbean
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Partnership for Prosperity and Security in the Caribbean (PPS) is a regional-level dialogue with the stated purpose of providing greater cooperation on security and economic issues.[1] The Partnership was founded in Bridgetown, Barbados on March 10, 1997 by the Governments of the United States of America, Antigua and Barbuda, the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, the Commonwealth of Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, the Republic of Haiti, Jamaica, the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the Republic of Suriname and the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.[1]
The major principles covered under the agreement are:
The agreement sets out a basis for helping the Caribbean countries combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic and for trans-regional illegal-drug interdiction cooperation with the United States.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Trade_Area_of_the_Americas
Excerpt:
The Free Trade Area of the Americas logo.The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) (Spanish: Área de Libre Comercio de las Américas (ALCA), French: Zone de libre-échange des Amériques (ZLÉA), Portuguese: Área de Livre Comércio das Américas (ALCA), Dutch: Vrijhandelszone van Amerika) was a proposed agreement to eliminate or reduce the trade barriers among all countries in the Americas but Cuba. In the last round of negotiations, trade ministers from 34 countries met in Miami, United States, in November 2003 to discuss the proposal. [3] The proposed agreement was an extension of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Canada, Mexico and the United States. Opposing the proposal were Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Dominica, Nicaragua and Honduras (all of which entered the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas in response), and Argentina, Chile and Brazil.
Discussions have faltered over similar points as the Doha Development Round of World Trade Organization (WTO) talks; developed nations seek expanded trade in services and increased intellectual property rights, while less developed nations seek an end to agricultural subsidies and free trade in agricultural goods. Similar to the WTO talks, Brazil has taken a leadership role among the less developed nations, while the United States has taken a similar role for the developed nations.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8G6U2ko8
Excerpt:
WASHINGTON (AP) - The number of illegal immigrants in the United States has grown to as many as 12 million, and they now account for about one in every 20 workers, a new estimate says.
Efforts to curb illegal immigration have not slowed the pace, said a report Tuesday by the
Pew Hispanic Center.
The Pew Research Center is an American think tank organization based in Washington, D.C. that provides information on issues, attitudes and trends shaping the United States and the world. The Center and its projects receive funding from The Pew Charitable Trusts. In 1990, Donald S. Kellermann was named to serve as the first director of what was initially known as the Times Mirror Center. It was then part of the opinion polling operation run by Times Mirror, the parent of the Los Angeles Times. The Pew Research Center's work is carried out by seven projects: Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pew_Charitable_Trusts
Excerpt:
In 2004, the Pew Trusts applied to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to change its status from private foundation to non-profit organization. Since the Pew's change to a charitable foundation, it can now raise funds freely and devote up to 5% of its budget to lobbying the public sector.
http://wtpotus.wordpress.com/2010/11/09/the-puppet-master-george-soros/
Excerpt:
We know him as the benefactor of the Radical Left’s major organizations. Specifically, he initiated and backed over 500 organizations to defeat President George W. Bush’s bid for re-election in 2004. According to the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP), Soros donated $23,581,000! It should come as no surprise that the CRP is under George’s financial umbrella. The CRP was founded in 1983 as a nonprofit. Their mission,
CRP’s affiliate is OpenSecrets.org. Their website states their Mission:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/12/05/more_immigrant_woes_for_romney/?page=full
Excerpt:
In fact, their work was part of a regular pattern. Even after a Globe story in December 2006 highlighted Romney's use of a landscaping company that employs illegal immigrants to tend to his grounds, Romney continued to employ Community Lawn Service With a Heart - until yesterday. The company continued to employ illegal immigrants.
The two workers confirmed in separate interviews with Globe reporters last week that they were in the country without documents. One said he had paid $7,000 to a smuggler to escort him across the desert into Arizona; the other said he had come into the country with a student visa that has expired. Both were seen working on the lawn by either Globe reporters or photographers over the last two months.
http://ledge.fleetwoodmac.net/showthread.php?t=30423
Excerpt:
The major principles covered under the agreement are:
- Trade, Development, Finance, the Environment, Justice and Security
The agreement sets out a basis for helping the Caribbean countries combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic and for trans-regional illegal-drug interdiction cooperation with the United States.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Trade_Area_of_the_Americas
Excerpt:
Discussions have faltered over similar points as the Doha Development Round of World Trade Organization (WTO) talks; developed nations seek expanded trade in services and increased intellectual property rights, while less developed nations seek an end to agricultural subsidies and free trade in agricultural goods. Similar to the WTO talks, Brazil has taken a leadership role among the less developed nations, while the United States has taken a similar role for the developed nations.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8G6U2ko8
Excerpt:
WASHINGTON (AP) - The number of illegal immigrants in the United States has grown to as many as 12 million, and they now account for about one in every 20 workers, a new estimate says.
Efforts to curb illegal immigration have not slowed the pace, said a report Tuesday by the
Pew Hispanic Center.
The Pew Research Center is an American think tank organization based in Washington, D.C. that provides information on issues, attitudes and trends shaping the United States and the world. The Center and its projects receive funding from The Pew Charitable Trusts. In 1990, Donald S. Kellermann was named to serve as the first director of what was initially known as the Times Mirror Center. It was then part of the opinion polling operation run by Times Mirror, the parent of the Los Angeles Times. The Pew Research Center's work is carried out by seven projects: Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pew_Charitable_Trusts
Excerpt:
In 2004, the Pew Trusts applied to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to change its status from private foundation to non-profit organization. Since the Pew's change to a charitable foundation, it can now raise funds freely and devote up to 5% of its budget to lobbying the public sector.
http://wtpotus.wordpress.com/2010/11/09/the-puppet-master-george-soros/
Excerpt:
We know him as the benefactor of the Radical Left’s major organizations. Specifically, he initiated and backed over 500 organizations to defeat President George W. Bush’s bid for re-election in 2004. According to the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP), Soros donated $23,581,000! It should come as no surprise that the CRP is under George’s financial umbrella. The CRP was founded in 1983 as a nonprofit. Their mission,
“to create a more educated [Progressive/communist] voter,Who supports the CRP? As you might suspect, the well known leftist leaning foundations are the primary funders, i.e., the Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation, the Joyce Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts, and the George Soros’ Open Society Institute.
an involved [Leftist] citizenry and
a more responsive government.”
CRP’s affiliate is OpenSecrets.org. Their website states their Mission:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/12/05/more_immigrant_woes_for_romney/?page=full
Excerpt:
In fact, their work was part of a regular pattern. Even after a Globe story in December 2006 highlighted Romney's use of a landscaping company that employs illegal immigrants to tend to his grounds, Romney continued to employ Community Lawn Service With a Heart - until yesterday. The company continued to employ illegal immigrants.
The two workers confirmed in separate interviews with Globe reporters last week that they were in the country without documents. One said he had paid $7,000 to a smuggler to escort him across the desert into Arizona; the other said he had come into the country with a student visa that has expired. Both were seen working on the lawn by either Globe reporters or photographers over the last two months.
http://ledge.fleetwoodmac.net/showthread.php?t=30423
Excerpt:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/mas..._for_governor/
Guatemalans say firm hired them
December 1, 2006
SUCHITEPEQUEZ, Guatemala -- Outside his aqua-colored concrete house here, Rene Alvarez Rosales paused under an almond tree to answer questions about a subject with which he has surprising familiarity: Governor Mitt Romney's Belmont lawn.
For about eight years, Rosales said, he worked on and off landscaping the grounds at Romney's home, occasionally getting a "buenos dias" from Romney or a drink of water from his wife, Ann.
"She is very nice," said Rosales, 49.
About 6 miles away in Copado, a 37-year-old man who recently returned to Guatemala from the United States told a similar story, describing long days tending Romney's 2 1/2-acre grounds.
"They wanted that house to look really nice," said the worker, who asked to remain anonymous. "It took a long time."
As Governor Mitt Romney explores a presidential bid, he has grown outspoken in his criticism of illegal immigration. But, for a decade, the governor has used a landscaping company that relies heavily on workers like these, illegal Guatemalan immigrants, to maintain the grounds surrounding his pink Colonial house on Marsh Street in Belmont.
The Globe recently interviewed four current and former employees of Community Lawn Service with a Heart, the tiny Chelsea-based company that provides upkeep of Romney's property. All but one said they were in the United States illegally.
The employees told the Globe that company owner Ricardo Saenz never asked them to provide documents showing their immigration status and knew they were illegal immigrants.
"He never asked for papers," said Rosales, who said he had paid smugglers about $5,000 to take him across the US-Mexican border and settled in Chelsea.
The workers said they were paid in cash at $9 to $10 an hour and sometimes worked 11-hour days.
Romney never inquired about their status, they said.
In addition to maintaining the governor's property, they also tended to the lawn at the house owned by Romney's son, Taggart, less than a mile away on the same winding street.
Asked by a reporter yesterday about his use of Community Lawn Service with a Heart, Romney, who was hosting the Republican Governors Association conference in Miami, said, "Aw, geez," and walked away.
Several hours later, his spokesman, Eric Fehrnstrom, provided the Globe with a statement saying that the governor knows nothing about the immigration status of the landscaping workers, and that his dealings were with Saenz, who is a legal immigrant from Colombia.
Fehrnstrom said that Romney would look into the matter further.
"We'll see what happens from here on out," Fehrnstrom said. "If the Globe has information on people that are in the country illegally, obviously that would have to be verified. . . . We've already taken the first step in that direction by calling Mr. Saenz."
The situation underscores the extent to which illegal immigrants permeate the US economy. Even as Romney travels the country, vowing to curb the flood of low-skilled illegal immigrants into the United States, some of those workers maintain his own yard, cutting grass, pruning shrubs, and mulching trees.
Saenz said he met Romney through the Mormon Church and said Romney has used his company's services for a decade. Saenz said Romney never asked him if his workers are legal immigrants.
"He doesn't have to ask," Saenz said. "I'm a company."
Saenz asserted that all the workers he used were in the United States legally. Told by reporters that his employees said they were in this country illegally, Saenz responded: "What you've heard is not my problem."
Saenz said he had never requested any proof from his employees to show they are here legally.
"I don't need to tell them to show me documents," he said. "I know who they are, and they are legal."
Federal law calls for employers to examine the documents, such as green cards or Social Security cards, that establish an employee's identity and eligibility to work in the United States.
The Globe received a tip in July alleging that Romney was using illegal immigrants to landscape his property. Reporters then observed the lawn service workers outside Romney's house more than a dozen times, sometimes as frequently as twice a week.
Reporters tracked down four current and former employees of the company at their homes in Chelsea and in Guatemala. All had landscaped Romney's property while working for Community Lawn Service with a Heart, and their tenure ranged from one worker who had joined the company just a month ago to another who had worked there 10 years.
The workers said they found the jobs at the landscaping company through other Guatemalan immigrants after arriving in Chelsea.
Of the four interviewed, only one said he was in the United States legally, showing a reporter his Social Security card and a Massachusetts driver's license, which the reporter checked against public databases to verify its authenticity. The other workers acknowledged they had no genuine documents, though some said they purchased fake documents, and described harrowing trips to the United States, eluding authorities and paying thousands for their passage. The interviews were conducted in Spanish.
The undocumented workers appear to be a significant presence at the tiny company. Reporters who observed the company in recent months never saw more than three people working at any time. Typically two men were working on any given day.
Community Lawn Service also provides landscaping for a Massachusetts Port Authority property in Revere and public school grounds in Chelsea. The Globe reported in June that companies using undocumented workers had received state contracts, triggering intense debate on Beacon Hill. Romney and GOP lawmakers have supported an effort to prohibit the practice.
The workers who had landscaped Romney's property seemed unaware of the governor's support for stricter controls on illegal immigration. Several described casual encounters with Romney over the years and said he had never expressed any curiosity about their status.
Rosales recalled Romney sometimes waving as they tended to the grounds, which include a tennis court and swimming pool. Romney occasionally called out, "buenos dias," drawing good-natured laughter from the workers. Ann Romney was friendly, Rosales said, and he said she brought them water on one particularly hot day.
Romney has been critical of illegal immigration as he touts himself to Republican primary voters as a conservative alternative to Senator John McCain, who has teamed up with Senator Edward M. Kennedy to push for a middle ground approach on the issue.
Romney supports construction of a new 700-mile fence along the country's border with Mexico and stationing National Guard troops at the border until it is finished.
He also said that employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants should be penalized. After the Globe's story in June about contractors on public projects using illegal immigrants, the governor announced he would seek an agreement with federal immigration authorities to allow Massachusetts State Police to arrest illegal immigrants for being in this country illegally.
In September, on Fox TV's "The O'Reilly Factor," Romney said the border must be secured and restated his support for the fence along the Mexican border, prompting host Bill O'Reilly to dub it "the Mitt Romney Memorial wall."
The experience of the workers on Romney's property seems far removed from the political rhetoric.
The worker in Copado said a state trooper stationed in Romney's driveway once inquired about his immigration status, about six months ago. Saenz, the company owner, who was at the property at the time, told the trooper that the worker was in the country legally, but had forgotten his papers, the worker told the Globe. The trooper never inquired again, said the worker, who repeatedly returned to the governor's property but avoided the trooper. Saenz told reporters he did not recall the incident.
Both the Copado resident and Rosales said they took the landscaping jobs to earn money for their families back home. After making it to the US-Mexican border, they crossed the Arizona desert on foot. When they finally arrived in Chelsea, where friends and family lived, they did odd jobs and eventually found work at Community Lawn Service with a Heart.
They said they were grateful for the work. About 80 percent of Guatemalans live in poverty, according to the US State Department. The workers said they made far more at Community Lawn Service than they could in their Central American homeland.
"It was a good job," said the worker in Copado, not far from a stream where local women wash their clothes. "I didn't make a lot, but I earned $16,000 working for that company." He said he returned to Guatemala after four years because he missed his wife and daughter and has used his earnings to buy a pickup truck and land on which to build a small house.
Another of the undocumented workers, who has been living in Chelsea for two years and joined the landscaping firm a month ago, is finding life here hard.
"The truth is, it's very difficult," the 46-year-old worker said. "One lives day to day."
The one legal Guatemalan immigrant interviewed by the Globe, who has done work at the Romney property numerous times, has been a constant presence at the landscaping company. But he said Saenz regularly hired illegal workers to work alongside him. He said exchanges with the governor on the property are rare.
"The one who talks to us is the wife," said the legal immigrant. "She asks how we are."
The issue of illegal immigrant laborers has been tricky and sometimes damaging to political figures. President Clinton's first two nominees for attorney general, Zoe Baird and Kimba Wood, saw their chances dim after it was reported that they had employed illegal immigrants as nannies.
In 1994, Republican Michael Huffington lost his bid for the US Senate after acknowledging he had employed an illegal immigrant as a nanny for five years.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/27/us/jury-clears-tyson-foods-in-use-of-illegal-immigrants.html
Excerpt:
Throughout the trial, prosecutors relied heavily on the testimony of former Tyson employees who pleaded guilty to violating immigration laws and on undercover immigration agents, who secretly recorded conversations with Tyson officials.
But defense lawyers argued that none of the evidence linked their client to a crime. Company officials were mentioned by others, they said, but were never directly implicated and those who pleaded guilty were rogue employees. They also said agents of the Immigration and Naturalization Service had tried to entrap Tyson officials by repeatedly seeking meetings with them and insisting that the company strike a deal to bring undocumented workers into the United States.
Before the case went to the jury, Judge R. Allan Edgar dismissed for lack of evidence 24 of 36 counts, including the accusations that Tyson had tried to smuggle workers into the United States.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Calvert
Excerpt:
E-Verify
Rep. Calvert is the original author of E-Verify, the only employment verification program available to employers to check the work authorization status of newly hired employees. In 1995, Rep. Calvert introduced H.R. 502, which was later included in the immigration reform bill, H.R. 2202.[12] The immigration reforms were later wrapped into the FY1997 Omnibus Appropriations Act.[13] The original program, known as the Basic Pilot Program, was only available to five states and employers used a call in system. In the 12 years since its implementation, the Basic Pilot Program, now known as E-Verify, has expanded nationwide and has over 100,000 employers using the system. Two states, Arizona and Mississippi, have made use of E-Verify mandatory.
E-Verify is 99.6% accurate, free to employers, web-based and 96.1% of checks to the system receive an instant "green light" to work. Rep. Calvert has introduced legislation in the 111th Congress to make use of E-Verify mandatory.[14]
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Birch_Society
Excerpt:
Chip Berlet wrote in 2010 that: "It is worth noting that the founder of the Society, Robert Welch, worked as a researcher for the anti-collectivist NAM before setting up the JBS. In 1964 the masthead of the JBS magazine American Opinion read like a Who’s Who of ultraconservatism: Editorial Advisory Committee, Clarence Manion, Ludwig Von Mises, J. Howard Pew, and Robert W. Stoddard; Associate Editors Revilo P. Oliver and E. Merrill Root; Contributing Editors Medford Evans and Hans Sennholz." [1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Howard_Pew
Excerpt:
Philanthropy
With his siblings, Pew was a co-founder of The Pew Charitable Trusts. J. Howard Pew also donated the funds for the J. Howard Pew Freedom Trust in 1957. Pew provided early funding to support Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts, working closely with Billy Graham and Harold Ockenga.[3]
Guatemalans say firm hired them
December 1, 2006
SUCHITEPEQUEZ, Guatemala -- Outside his aqua-colored concrete house here, Rene Alvarez Rosales paused under an almond tree to answer questions about a subject with which he has surprising familiarity: Governor Mitt Romney's Belmont lawn.
For about eight years, Rosales said, he worked on and off landscaping the grounds at Romney's home, occasionally getting a "buenos dias" from Romney or a drink of water from his wife, Ann.
"She is very nice," said Rosales, 49.
About 6 miles away in Copado, a 37-year-old man who recently returned to Guatemala from the United States told a similar story, describing long days tending Romney's 2 1/2-acre grounds.
"They wanted that house to look really nice," said the worker, who asked to remain anonymous. "It took a long time."
As Governor Mitt Romney explores a presidential bid, he has grown outspoken in his criticism of illegal immigration. But, for a decade, the governor has used a landscaping company that relies heavily on workers like these, illegal Guatemalan immigrants, to maintain the grounds surrounding his pink Colonial house on Marsh Street in Belmont.
The Globe recently interviewed four current and former employees of Community Lawn Service with a Heart, the tiny Chelsea-based company that provides upkeep of Romney's property. All but one said they were in the United States illegally.
The employees told the Globe that company owner Ricardo Saenz never asked them to provide documents showing their immigration status and knew they were illegal immigrants.
"He never asked for papers," said Rosales, who said he had paid smugglers about $5,000 to take him across the US-Mexican border and settled in Chelsea.
The workers said they were paid in cash at $9 to $10 an hour and sometimes worked 11-hour days.
Romney never inquired about their status, they said.
In addition to maintaining the governor's property, they also tended to the lawn at the house owned by Romney's son, Taggart, less than a mile away on the same winding street.
Asked by a reporter yesterday about his use of Community Lawn Service with a Heart, Romney, who was hosting the Republican Governors Association conference in Miami, said, "Aw, geez," and walked away.
Several hours later, his spokesman, Eric Fehrnstrom, provided the Globe with a statement saying that the governor knows nothing about the immigration status of the landscaping workers, and that his dealings were with Saenz, who is a legal immigrant from Colombia.
Fehrnstrom said that Romney would look into the matter further.
"We'll see what happens from here on out," Fehrnstrom said. "If the Globe has information on people that are in the country illegally, obviously that would have to be verified. . . . We've already taken the first step in that direction by calling Mr. Saenz."
The situation underscores the extent to which illegal immigrants permeate the US economy. Even as Romney travels the country, vowing to curb the flood of low-skilled illegal immigrants into the United States, some of those workers maintain his own yard, cutting grass, pruning shrubs, and mulching trees.
Saenz said he met Romney through the Mormon Church and said Romney has used his company's services for a decade. Saenz said Romney never asked him if his workers are legal immigrants.
"He doesn't have to ask," Saenz said. "I'm a company."
Saenz asserted that all the workers he used were in the United States legally. Told by reporters that his employees said they were in this country illegally, Saenz responded: "What you've heard is not my problem."
Saenz said he had never requested any proof from his employees to show they are here legally.
"I don't need to tell them to show me documents," he said. "I know who they are, and they are legal."
Federal law calls for employers to examine the documents, such as green cards or Social Security cards, that establish an employee's identity and eligibility to work in the United States.
The Globe received a tip in July alleging that Romney was using illegal immigrants to landscape his property. Reporters then observed the lawn service workers outside Romney's house more than a dozen times, sometimes as frequently as twice a week.
Reporters tracked down four current and former employees of the company at their homes in Chelsea and in Guatemala. All had landscaped Romney's property while working for Community Lawn Service with a Heart, and their tenure ranged from one worker who had joined the company just a month ago to another who had worked there 10 years.
The workers said they found the jobs at the landscaping company through other Guatemalan immigrants after arriving in Chelsea.
Of the four interviewed, only one said he was in the United States legally, showing a reporter his Social Security card and a Massachusetts driver's license, which the reporter checked against public databases to verify its authenticity. The other workers acknowledged they had no genuine documents, though some said they purchased fake documents, and described harrowing trips to the United States, eluding authorities and paying thousands for their passage. The interviews were conducted in Spanish.
The undocumented workers appear to be a significant presence at the tiny company. Reporters who observed the company in recent months never saw more than three people working at any time. Typically two men were working on any given day.
Community Lawn Service also provides landscaping for a Massachusetts Port Authority property in Revere and public school grounds in Chelsea. The Globe reported in June that companies using undocumented workers had received state contracts, triggering intense debate on Beacon Hill. Romney and GOP lawmakers have supported an effort to prohibit the practice.
The workers who had landscaped Romney's property seemed unaware of the governor's support for stricter controls on illegal immigration. Several described casual encounters with Romney over the years and said he had never expressed any curiosity about their status.
Rosales recalled Romney sometimes waving as they tended to the grounds, which include a tennis court and swimming pool. Romney occasionally called out, "buenos dias," drawing good-natured laughter from the workers. Ann Romney was friendly, Rosales said, and he said she brought them water on one particularly hot day.
Romney has been critical of illegal immigration as he touts himself to Republican primary voters as a conservative alternative to Senator John McCain, who has teamed up with Senator Edward M. Kennedy to push for a middle ground approach on the issue.
Romney supports construction of a new 700-mile fence along the country's border with Mexico and stationing National Guard troops at the border until it is finished.
He also said that employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants should be penalized. After the Globe's story in June about contractors on public projects using illegal immigrants, the governor announced he would seek an agreement with federal immigration authorities to allow Massachusetts State Police to arrest illegal immigrants for being in this country illegally.
In September, on Fox TV's "The O'Reilly Factor," Romney said the border must be secured and restated his support for the fence along the Mexican border, prompting host Bill O'Reilly to dub it "the Mitt Romney Memorial wall."
The experience of the workers on Romney's property seems far removed from the political rhetoric.
The worker in Copado said a state trooper stationed in Romney's driveway once inquired about his immigration status, about six months ago. Saenz, the company owner, who was at the property at the time, told the trooper that the worker was in the country legally, but had forgotten his papers, the worker told the Globe. The trooper never inquired again, said the worker, who repeatedly returned to the governor's property but avoided the trooper. Saenz told reporters he did not recall the incident.
Both the Copado resident and Rosales said they took the landscaping jobs to earn money for their families back home. After making it to the US-Mexican border, they crossed the Arizona desert on foot. When they finally arrived in Chelsea, where friends and family lived, they did odd jobs and eventually found work at Community Lawn Service with a Heart.
They said they were grateful for the work. About 80 percent of Guatemalans live in poverty, according to the US State Department. The workers said they made far more at Community Lawn Service than they could in their Central American homeland.
"It was a good job," said the worker in Copado, not far from a stream where local women wash their clothes. "I didn't make a lot, but I earned $16,000 working for that company." He said he returned to Guatemala after four years because he missed his wife and daughter and has used his earnings to buy a pickup truck and land on which to build a small house.
Another of the undocumented workers, who has been living in Chelsea for two years and joined the landscaping firm a month ago, is finding life here hard.
"The truth is, it's very difficult," the 46-year-old worker said. "One lives day to day."
The one legal Guatemalan immigrant interviewed by the Globe, who has done work at the Romney property numerous times, has been a constant presence at the landscaping company. But he said Saenz regularly hired illegal workers to work alongside him. He said exchanges with the governor on the property are rare.
"The one who talks to us is the wife," said the legal immigrant. "She asks how we are."
The issue of illegal immigrant laborers has been tricky and sometimes damaging to political figures. President Clinton's first two nominees for attorney general, Zoe Baird and Kimba Wood, saw their chances dim after it was reported that they had employed illegal immigrants as nannies.
In 1994, Republican Michael Huffington lost his bid for the US Senate after acknowledging he had employed an illegal immigrant as a nanny for five years.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/27/us/jury-clears-tyson-foods-in-use-of-illegal-immigrants.html
Excerpt:
Throughout the trial, prosecutors relied heavily on the testimony of former Tyson employees who pleaded guilty to violating immigration laws and on undercover immigration agents, who secretly recorded conversations with Tyson officials.
But defense lawyers argued that none of the evidence linked their client to a crime. Company officials were mentioned by others, they said, but were never directly implicated and those who pleaded guilty were rogue employees. They also said agents of the Immigration and Naturalization Service had tried to entrap Tyson officials by repeatedly seeking meetings with them and insisting that the company strike a deal to bring undocumented workers into the United States.
Before the case went to the jury, Judge R. Allan Edgar dismissed for lack of evidence 24 of 36 counts, including the accusations that Tyson had tried to smuggle workers into the United States.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Calvert
Excerpt:
E-Verify
Rep. Calvert is the original author of E-Verify, the only employment verification program available to employers to check the work authorization status of newly hired employees. In 1995, Rep. Calvert introduced H.R. 502, which was later included in the immigration reform bill, H.R. 2202.[12] The immigration reforms were later wrapped into the FY1997 Omnibus Appropriations Act.[13] The original program, known as the Basic Pilot Program, was only available to five states and employers used a call in system. In the 12 years since its implementation, the Basic Pilot Program, now known as E-Verify, has expanded nationwide and has over 100,000 employers using the system. Two states, Arizona and Mississippi, have made use of E-Verify mandatory.
E-Verify is 99.6% accurate, free to employers, web-based and 96.1% of checks to the system receive an instant "green light" to work. Rep. Calvert has introduced legislation in the 111th Congress to make use of E-Verify mandatory.[14]
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Birch_Society
Excerpt:
Chip Berlet wrote in 2010 that: "It is worth noting that the founder of the Society, Robert Welch, worked as a researcher for the anti-collectivist NAM before setting up the JBS. In 1964 the masthead of the JBS magazine American Opinion read like a Who’s Who of ultraconservatism: Editorial Advisory Committee, Clarence Manion, Ludwig Von Mises, J. Howard Pew, and Robert W. Stoddard; Associate Editors Revilo P. Oliver and E. Merrill Root; Contributing Editors Medford Evans and Hans Sennholz." [1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Howard_Pew
Excerpt:
Philanthropy
With his siblings, Pew was a co-founder of The Pew Charitable Trusts. J. Howard Pew also donated the funds for the J. Howard Pew Freedom Trust in 1957. Pew provided early funding to support Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts, working closely with Billy Graham and Harold Ockenga.[3]
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