Who's Going to Mow Mitt's Lawn?

Last week, presidential candidate Mitt Tancredo (oops, I mean Romney) fired his landscaping company because of their employment of undocumented workers. According to The Hill newspaper, Romney wrote a letter to the the owner of the company, Ricardo Saenz:

"Today, I fired a landscaping company that I learned was employing people who are not permitted to work here in the United States. After this same issue arose last year, I gave the company a second chance with very specific conditions. They were instructed to make sure people working for the company were of legal status. We personally met with the company in order to inform them of this matter. The owner of the company guaranteed us, in very certain terms, that the company would be in total compliance with the law going forward. The company's failure to comply with the law is disappointing and inexcusable, and I believe it is important I take this action."

Well there's Romney trying to "out-Tancredo Trancredo" again. After his spat with Giuliani a few weeks ago that looked like an elementary school playground argument, I guess he's trying to back up his words and cover himself.

I can just picture Mitt's cronies sitting down with Ricardo: "Don't blow this for us, Saenz. We're trying to win an election here."

There is no question that our nation's immigration policies need to be re-evaluated. And Congress tried to do it this past summer, but hit some turbulence from the Republicans. Still, let's be civil about the whole debate. Immigrants, whether here legally or not, are human beings that deserve the same respect as everyone else. I spent some time on the US-Mexico border a few years ago and was amazed at the courage many of these men and women have in risking their lives to support their family and pursue a better life.

This landscaping story reminded me of the film, A Day Without a Mexican. It's a satire that looks at how California can't cope with the loss of its Latino population after a fog builds and all people of Latino descent disappear. It's a funny, yet serious statement on the nature of our American economy and political system: