Losing the Plot
While immigration and illegal border crossings have long been complex and contentious issues, the notion that there’s an invasion or a national emergency was invented by officials who have a determination to amass more executive power and a fetish for public displays of militaristic cruelty. This is pretty obvious unless you’re able to convince yourself that there’s a massive crime wave in America that’s made up of millions of people who risk everything to cross the border and then work for decades stitching clothes, picking crops, washing cars, and paying taxes as part of some longterm undercover plot to commit a heinous crime to be named later. Uh, send in the Marines? Reminders of the vital role these workers play in the American economy isn’t just being called out by immigration advocates or left wing columnists. They’re coming loudly and urgently from business owners. A sick irony of our current American moment is that one of the business owners who has long employed undocumented workers is the president behind the current crackdown. Even he’s hearing the message from his fellow business owners. His latest message: “Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace. This is not good.” (If only personal experience over several decades or the constant refrain from every business leader and economist ever had suggested this could be the case.) White House border czar Tom Homan is still indicating that there will be a massive expansion of enforcement operations in workplaces, and that employers may be targeted as well as workers. We’ll see if reality and logic can win the day on this issue. Neither has had a great track record lately.
+ GQ: When It Comes to Clothes, ‘Made in USA’ Has Always Meant Made by Immigrants. “The recent ICE raids on Los Angeles’s Fashion District served as a potent reminder that immigrant labor has been the backbone of the American garment industry for generations.”
+ The immigration raids aren’t just impacting workers and employers. They’re impacting big businesses that are seeing blinking red warning signals when it comes to consumer behavior. WSJ (Gift Article): ICE Raids Have Sent Latino Shoppers Into Hiding and Big Brands Are Hurting. “Across America—and particularly in Southern states with large Hispanic populations—consumer goods companies, food and beverage makers, restaurants and retailers are taking a hit. Coca-Cola’s sales volume in North America fell 3% in the first quarter of the year, partly because of the pullback by Hispanic shoppers, company executives said. Colgate-Palmolive, Modelo brewer Constellation Brands and restaurant chains including Wingstop and El Pollo Loco over the past few months have told investors that a decrease in Hispanic spending is hurting their sales.” (Apparently, buying a lot of toothpaste and Coca Cola is also part of this criminal conspiracy.)
