The unholy trinity

I thought I was hearing echoes but it turns out that two different sources placed the blame for the immigration mess on the same three groups.

First I heard Michael Chertoff tell ABC News why past enforcement efforts were half-hearted. Chertoff told Pierre Thomas: “I think what the public may come to see is that for many years the way we dealt with the illegal immigration issue was, we paid political lip service to toughness, but then a variety of groups - whether it be business, or labor, or advocacy groups - essentially frustrated the actual enforcement of the law.”

Business, labor, and advocacy groups, and let’s not forget The State of Illinois!

Now, listen to this editorial from The San Diego Union-Tribune, generally known as a friend to the illegal. It really is a nice piece, chiding Judge Breyer for stopping Homeland Security from proceeding with their No Match letter program. In pointing out vested interests, the Editor says: “At no point must employers fire any worker, illegal or legal -- if they are willing to risk eventually facing those sanctions. That's only one discrepancy between Breyer's order and reality. But it's reason enough to appeal to lift the injunction and move on to the merits of this suit, brought by the ACLU, business and labor. It's an unusual alliance of organizations with zero interest in enforcing existing immigration law and reducing the jobs magnet that drives illegal immigration.”

I recommend reading the editorial in full. It really spells out the provisions of the program and how lame the excuse that it discriminates against valid workers. Here’s the link:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/op-ed/editorial1/20071012-9999-lz1ed12top.html

They’re right about the people behind the lawsuit Breyer ruled on. It was business (The San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council) , labor (the AFL-CIO), and advocacy groups (ACLU and The National Immigration Law Center).

Whenever anyone, whether a municipality, a state agency, or even the citizenry, tries to encourage enforcement of immigration laws, they are immediately shouted down by La Raza, LULAC, MALDEF, the ACLU, and various union groups. Behind the scenes letters (and checks) are written by home builders, the National Restaurant Association, farmers groups, and manufacturers associations reminding politicians that good help is hard to find these days.

We really are up against some powerful, well-funded, groups. All the more reason to make noise of our own.