Immigration Crackdown; NYT Opinion Piece - "Broken in the USA"

[pampango]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/01/opinion/01thu2.html

"An immigration crackdown by the Obama administration has led to the imminent firing of about 1,800 workers at American Apparel, the trendy clothing company whose downtown factory is one of the largest still left in Los Angeles."

"American Apparel wouldn’t be our first target in the notoriously shady garment industry. The government has not charged it with knowingly hiring or exploiting illegal labor. By most accounts it has tried to maintain a legal work force given how hard it is for employers to weed out applicants whose fake documents look authentic."

"Unlike companies that routinely seek out illegal immigrants (the better to exploit them), American Apparel pays $10 to $12 an hour, well above the minimum wage and industry standards, plus health benefits. It hires locally, cultivates a trained work force and is seen as a valued corporate citizen in Los Angeles. The city’s mayor called the firings “devastating.”"

"President Obama and Ms. Napolitano inherited a failed immigration policy. They have promised do better in setting priorities, hunting down abusive employers and pressing for comprehensive immigration reform that will give workers hope and a path to legalization. A crackdown that forces 1,800 taxpaying would-be Americans into joblessness in a dismal economy is a law-enforcement victory only in the bitterest, narrowest sense. As a solution to the problem of unauthorized workers — 1,800 down, millions to go — it’s ludicrous."