Donald Trump’s hypocrisy on immigration
Photo by Michael Vadon via Creative Commons
By Teresa Puente
The worst thing about Donald Trump is that he has built his empire on the backs of immigrant workers, including some undocumented.
He told CNN Wednesday that he can’t guarantee that all of his workers have legal status.
He was sued by Polish workers, including some undocumented, who were underpaid or not paid to build Trump Tower in New York 35 years ago, according to The Daily Beast. And The Washington Post reported this week on immigrant workers building his new hotel in Washington, D.C., including some undocumented from Latin America.
And yet Trump continues to vilify hard-working Mexicans refusing to apologize for calling them criminals and rapists. Instead he threatens to sue all who decide they don’t want to do business with the fear-monger that he is.
His delusions grow as he stated this week that he thinks he will win the majority of the Latino vote.
In fact his comments have unified Mexicans, other Latinos, immigrants and people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds who disagree with Trump.
Trump points to the terrible murder of a California woman by an undocumented man as proof that he speaks the truth. Yes this is an awful case. But to cast blame on all Mexicans or immigrants is a stretch.
This would be like blaming all young white men for the horrific acts committed by Dylann Roof in killing nine African Americans in a South Carolina church.
The facts are that the undocumented contribute at least $13 billion a year into Social Security taxes.
Immigrants also are less likely to commit crimes or be incarcerated, according to various studies.
And yet Corporate America can subcontract workers, as Trump did, and say they don’t know if they are undocumented.
It’s easy because immigration laws punish the worker more than the employers. The U.S. government fines companies who violate immigration laws an average from a few thousand to $100,000. A recent fine of $2.5 million against a Washington state fruit company is a record and an exception.
Instead of blaming Mexicans, let’s honor all the Mexicans and their descendants who have fought and died protecting this country.
That includes my great grandfather Candelario Ortiz, who was a deputy sheriff in Carrizo Springs, Texas, and in 1913 was killed and tortured by gun smugglers trying to bring arms from Texas into Mexico for the Mexican Revolution.
All but one of his killers were Mexican. My great grandfather crossed the border from Mexico into Texas in 1890 looking for a better life for his family. At that time you didn’t need a green card to come to the U.S.
But I don’t blame Mexicans for his death. He put his life on the line to protect his community in Texas. He was a lawman and that was his job.
And his legacy includes more than a dozen grandchildren and great grandchildren of Mexican descent who work in law enforcement today.
Trump needs to stop blaming Mexicans for the ills of this country. If all of the Mexicans and other immigrants who work for him walked off the job at once, Trump would probably go bankrupt.
And then we wouldn’t have to hear from him any more.
Originally published at www.chicagonow.com.
