We’ll do the real first-post launch for Leopards-Eating-Faces with this story from Tampa, FL, in which lifelong Republican, Richard Gonzmart, is forced to fire several undocumented immigrant employees at his restaurants and pay a $500,000 fine. Some of the employees had worked at his restaurants for decades.
More details are available via The Miami Herald, however, the link is hidden behind a (reasonably priced) paywall. So, should you want more specifics than are available in the Business Insider link above, be sure to support the news media and buy a subscription with The Miami Herald. From a section visible above the paywall:
“With 2,000 employees, it becomes very difficult to monitor it,’’ Gonzmart said in an interview. “We think they’re legal but, when we had to check, we found seven people who have been with me 30 years — paying taxes, had children, grandchildren — and we were required to terminate them.
Here is a case where someone got exactly what they voted for. That is, Gov. DeSantis has been clear about his intention to crack down on illegal immigration, expel illegal immigrants, and go after those who employ them. However, I feel that is unfortunate. While I understand we don’t want just wide open borders around the United States, it does seem that there could (should?) be some allowances for integrating those who have demonstrated a history of good citizenship and respect for the laws of the country (other than, of course, legal immigration requirements). I mean, it’s something conservative deity Pres. Reagan supported:
The Immigration Reform and Control Act did not address the status of children of undocumented migrants who were eligible for the amnesty program. In 1987, Reagan used his executive authority to legalize the status of minor children of parents granted amnesty under the immigration overhaul, announcing a blanket deferral of deportation for children under 18 who were living in a two-parent household with both parents legalizing or with a single parent who was legalizing. That action affected an estimated 100,000 families.
As well, it seems Pres. George W. Bush supported something along these lines. Now, to be fair, the proposed bill would have also allocated additional funding for vehicle barriers along the border, additional camera and radar towers, and 20,000 more Border Patrol agents. And it did fail to pass. But the intention was to increase border protection AND offer a path to legal citizenship for immigrants currently in the country illegally.
We know that illegal immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than native-born citizens, too. Additionally, we know that roughly ¾ of US adults support a legal path to citizenship for at least some illegal immigrants in the country now. So why don’t more politicians? I don’t have the answer, and am legitimately interested in the why. Feel free to comment below.
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