As I drive around the Philly suburbs, I see a lot of people doing lawnwork. Most of the people doing the lawnwork are Latino. I don’t know how many of them are here in this country without documents, but I imagine that some of the lawn care companies don’t bother checking the status of their employees. Perhaps others are duped by fake documents. The main thing, though, is that I don’t think many homeowners care one way or the other. They want their lawns mowed, and they want a good price. That’s why there is nothing particularly alarming about the fact that Mitt Romney had undocumented workers taking care of his lawn. That’s hardly an unusual situation.
But that’s why the Republicans’ stance on immigration is so obnoxious. Remember the spectacle of Meg Whitman saying that the maid she employed for years should be deported? There is something really wrong with knowingly hiring undocumented servants and then turning on them and saying they should be thrown out of the country.
If you really care about undocumented workers, you certainly shouldn’t employ them. And then to go around the country saying that people who employ undocumented workers should be punished? That reminds me of all the politicians who support drug laws that would have landed them in jail when they were teenagers.
People are buzzing about Rick Perry’s decision to call Mitt Romney a hypocrite on immigration in last night’s debate. It’s a cynical attack from Perry, but it’s a valid criticism. You can be sure that the Obama campaign will mention Romney’s hypocrisy, so it’s an issue the Republican voters need to discuss. It’s a weakness in the record of their frontrunner.
The problem isn’t that Romney, like countless other Americans, had undocumented workers tending to his lawn. The problem is that he has no respect for the people who tended his lawn. The problem is that he wants to use them as a political punching bag.
