OMG! Don’t Let Them Paint My House!
Another example of the government overreacting to a non-problem:
Authorities raided the offices of an Annapolis painting company this morning and detained 45 suspected illegal immigrants, who officials say were hired and housed by the company.
The raids, executed simultaneously at the offices of Annapolis Painting Services and 15 private homes owned by the company, were conducted by a force of 125 officials, including 75 federal immigration agents and 50 Anne Arundel County police officers.
The immigrants detained are being held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials at an unspecified location while their status is reviewed, said County Police Chief James Teare Sr. The owner of the painting company, Robert Bontempo Jr., could face federal felony charges, Teare said.
Wow. Giving hard-working people jobs and a place to live is now a felony in this country.
The painting company is a well-known and long-running business in Annapolis that had more than 100 employees, county police said. The homes raided this morning housed large groups of mostly men living in private, single-family houses owned by the company, police said.
At a news conference this morning across the street from the painting company’s offices, County Executive John R. Leopold (R) touted the raid as the most significant operation against illegal immigration during his administration.
“It’s unfair to those companies operating legally to be undercut by those who hire illegal immigrants,” said Leopold. “This sends a clear message that it’s not going to be tolerated in Anne Arundel County.”
Yes, because consumers who get their houses painted (presumably) more cheaply by immigrants is somehow unfair. Indeed, they should pay more because…because…well BECAUSE!!
But while we’re on the topic of unfair:
“[Leopold] has also cut county grants to nonprofit agencies that offered social services to Spanish-speaking county residents, both legal and illegal.”
Granted, I’m not for government subsidizing anything, but it doesn’t reek of anything but bigotry to cut funding to organizations because they utilize a foreign language in their services. God forbid that we would actually have bilingual people in this country that can deal with people from other cultures.
While I would grant you that being “undersold” by those circumventing the law is somewhat unfair, closing the market off to cheaper labor is less fair to more people (read home-owning consumers). Arbitrary and capricious standards for immigration are to blame–not the 45 people who were just incarcerated for working hard and contributing to the economy.
Filed under: Behind Every Law..., The Homeland
Jul 1st, 2008 at 1:21 pm
1. Annapolis Painting is not cheap - so they were making money on the backs of these immigrants. I’ve gotten estimates and Annapolis Painting was always more money than others.
2. Define illegal.
3. Leopold is right - the nonprofit provides services to illegal aliens. Jobs for hard working people are important, but let’s hire legals first.
Jul 1st, 2008 at 2:50 pm
1. Define “on the backs.” I’m pretty sure those immigrants found their conditions considerably better here than wherever they are from, otherwise they’d go back. And it seems that not too many painting companies also spring for housing for their employees, which apparently this company was doing. And if they were still in business, it seems that their product must be selling pretty well at even higher prices.
2. Whatever one does to get locked-up and charged with a felony for. And, as far as I can tell, that was providing jobs and a service.
3. The story explicitly said it cut grants to Spanish speaking non-profits, even if they dealt with legal immigrants, which was the point I was trying to make. As I said, as a general rule, the county (or any agent of the state) shouldn’t be doling out other people’s money. But if you’re going to do it, don’t be so blatantly discriminatory about it.
And if Annapolis Painting would paint my house faster, or cheaper, and/or better (face it, they had to be doing something well if they were charging more and still in business) why should I care if the guy who paints my house speaks English or falls under the arbitrary rules of some bureaucrat?
Hard-working people should be able to work in this country without fear of deportation or incarceration. Period.
Jul 8th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Hard working people should also know how to live like humans. One of the houses owned by Bontempo that housed lord knows how many illegals through they years is located next to my parents who are older and feared they would be robbed. They had so many cars there they would drive across my parents lawn,and children would run around freely without supervision. The children would wonder around my parents yard, ride bikes in there driveway again unsupervised. Trash piled up in the yard grass a foot high. They hooked into my parents water at one point without asing.
My husband had to cut there grass and take out their garbage so we could gather at my parents house after our wedding. The absolute worst thing was when we witnessed the males peeing in the back yard. We called the police but they said they can’t touch them! My two little girls could not play in my parents back yard.
So you tell me if this is so fair - How would you feel if they lived next to you?
Jul 9th, 2008 at 8:59 am
Sam,
while that is all unfortunate, having lived in nasty neighborhoods myself, I can tell you that illegal status has little, if anything, to do with the behavior of the people your parents lived next to.
I know plenty of born-and-raised Americans who are just as crude and disrespectful. Hell, I lived next to some of them.
I’m not saying those individuals involved in this case are saints, by any stretch. But it only makes sense that if you marginalize a large group of people and make it impossible for them to assimilate into ‘normal’ American life, they are going to keep to themselves and do as they please, which is unfortunate for all involved.
The solution is to make immigration easier and to get those already here on the books and move them into the American fold–i.e., let them get their own housing; openly and legally apply for jobs; pay taxes, etc. Otherwise, an illegal underclass will be pervasive and more people will deal with the mess your parents are going through.