07 March 2011

Texas immigration bill has an escape clause

As explained at Yglesias:
Under the House Bill 2012 introduced by a tea party favorite state Rep. Debbie Riddle — who’s been saying for some time that she’d like to see Texas institute an Arizona-style immigration law — hiring an undocumented maid, caretaker, lawnworker or any type of houseworker would be allowed. Why? As Texas state Rep. Aaron Pena, also a Republican, told CNN, without the exemption, “a large segment of the Texas population” would wind up in prison if the bill became law.

“When it comes to household employees or yard workers it is extremely common for Texans to hire people who are likely undocumented workers,” Pena told the news giant. “It is so common it is overlooked.”
I get so tired of the rampant and unrelenting hypocrisy of American legislators that I almost can't bring myself to continue reading such articles, much less blog them. 

Via ravings of a semi-sane madwoman.

11 comments:

  1. This is just so stupid is almost makes my head spin. "We have to get rid of those nasty illegal migrants - except for the ones that work for me, of course."

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  2. The underline of this hypocritical attack on immigrants: the certainty of the legal residents to remain far more powerfull, economically, then the growing southern-coming population. That is to say: economic exploitation.

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  3. Unbelievable. And yet, so utterly logical. Way to make a population even more vulnerable to exploitation, while keeping them scrubbing your toilets for you. Machiavelli would be proud.

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  4. Its not really about exempting low level labor. It is basically saying that it is unreasonable to expect every person who pays some guys to mow his lawn to go through the trouble of performing a background check. So if caught the employer would not be charged because he did not have the resources to know whether this person is an illegal.

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  5. Really, Krikkit? You people in Texas wouldn't feel comfortable asking the pool guy or the housekeeper to see his/her driver's license? Horseshit. You just don't want to give up your cheap immigrant labor.

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  6. @ kokpuff and Ugolini because you so vehemently agreed

    1) I don't live in or anywhere near Texas.

    2) When I was a child my parents had a Romanian house cleaner. Great lady, amazing worker. Former nuclear engineer even who helped me with my high school calc homework.

    My parents made a copy of her drivers license before giving her a house key.

    A few years later her son called us to tell us she had been deported back to Romania. She had stayed 5 years past her visa.

    DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW EASY IT IS TO GET A FAKE ID!?

    When I was in high school my friend got one for $30 so he could buy liquor.

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  7. Awaiting delivery of my new "Hell yeah, I'm an elitist!" bumper sticker here (for real, Google it).

    Just because i enjoy certain down-home delights doesn't mean I can shrug off my duty of basic critical thinking or intelligent action. I'm as baffled as the rest of y'all why so many folks don't seem to want more smart people in charge. I keep thinking of the fictional dim-bulb society in "Idiocracy". Is that where we go? Except at least *they* had the sense to immediately elevate the slightly brighter guy to try to figure things out.

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  8. At least they're honest about wanting to keep their "indentured" servants working for very little money. I honestly don't know which is worse, or doing more damage to our society--hypocrisy or stupidity. They're both rampant and doing serious harm to the social fabric.

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