I employ about 20 people at my embroidery company in
Eagan. The majority of them are
immigrants from Central and South America and from Cambodia. It might not surprise you to know that in the
25 years my company has been in business, we have found only a very few reliable
U.S.-born employees. Labor is hard to
come by, even when unemployment is high.
My experience has been that U.S. folks don't want to put that full day's
worth of work in that justifies their paycheck.
I work with immigrants.
I am a registered Republican but I do NOT agree with the rather
conservative policies that have promoted ICE treatment of our immigrant
population. I have recently had an
experience that I doubt you're aware of and I even doubt that you understand
just how awful ICE has become. You see,
they don't just pick up 'illegals' or 'undocumented aliens' in this country and
they don't use practices that would be remotely accepted if our police forces
were to use them.
ICE recently picked up one of my employees. He was taken by them at 6 a.m. on Tuesday,
October 9. When I arrived at work, my
other employees told me that they were afraid the he had been kidnapped. His car doors were unlocked and his lunch was
still sitting inside his car. I filed a
Missing Persons report with our local police and did not find out until late in
the day that ICE had taken him. There
was no card, no note or notice and he had no opportunity even to secure his
possessions. His children, who were due to be picked up by him, were not notified nor was their school. Apparently ICE has the
ability to simply make people vanish without notice.
My employee, who is now residing in the Elk River jail, has
legal documentation, a work permit and proof that he is applying for permanent
residency. He has been arrested once for
DUI and sadly has a vindictive wife who is trying to get him arrested for
violation of OFP. Yes, the whole truth
has to be told. However, I know them
both and we have been working to help him get custody of his children. The estranged wife has indicated on many
occasions that she no longer wants to care for their three children. She does not work and cannot afford to feed
them, by the way. My employee WAS their
sole means of support. Until ICE took
him.
I work with immigrants all day long. My experience with ICE is short but I will
say that they do not represent me or my country. They seem to have been given a free hand to
do everything they can to frighten law abiding people who want nothing more
than the opportunity to do the jobs that others won't. My Irish immigrant forefathers did the same
thing, were harassed for it and asked for not much more than equal
treatment. I ask the same for these
people.
Aside from the human aspect, think about the economic cost
that ICE is building.
It costs about $90 a day to keep a person in jail. Oh, they do have to pay for outgoing
telephone calls, even if they are local.
They need to have someone on the outside with a credit card who can
accept the calls. But they don't get to
keep their phones. How many phone numbers do
you happen to remember?
In my employee's case, he is the sole support for his three
children. Those children will most
likely become wards of the state (they are U.S. citizens). The oldest is nine years old. Can you guess the cost to raise three young
children when the state takes over?
Astronomical. Let’s not even
consider the social cost since parenting is always suspect in that
situation.
The consequences to this country are far more costly than the cost of time
it would take to verify a person, ensure that they are not career criminals and
then help them to move forward with their applications for residency and,
ultimately, citizenship. That is what
most want. Unfortunately, the government
where you represent me, doesn't care enough to do that. It's easier to send out a band of vigilantes
(ICE) to terrorize people who really are trying hard.
In my estimation, Congress is failing the very people that
you supposedly represent. One of them is
me. I vote and I will continue to write letters and
publicize my opinion regarding your complete and total failure to correct a
situation that most of us are asking to have
corrected. Got any plans to do something
about the immigration laws? I hope so. And I hope that somehow you figure out how to
turn the plans into some sort of action.
Do NOT point fingers and tell me that ‘they’ won’t let us do
anything. In 25 years of business the
one thing that I have learned is that if a responsibility is given to me, a
result is expected. Excuses fall on very
deaf ears.
Several years ago I wrote to a republican representative in
the Minnesota house. I gave him some
research regarding the minimum wage laws and asked for him to consider them. His first response was to say “Well, the Democrats
are in control and there’s nothing I can do”.
I was infuriated. My reply was
that I voted for him and he represented me.
I expected Something out of him. The
very next week he was on television debating a Democratic representative. No, he did not get a lot done, but he did
something.
I’d appreciate if you would do exactly that. Show me, your constituent, that you can come
up with a proposal, that you have an interest in what concerns me every single
day and please don’t send me an invitation to tour the White House or Senate
floor. Been there, wasn’t
impressed. I want government, not a
bunch of people telling me what they are not capable of doing.
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