Labor Secretary Tom Perez is carrying on the Hilda Solis tradition of reassuring illegal workers that breaking the law by working in the United States is not something that should interfere with their labor rights. While we wait for Barack Obama to make good on his threat to pull an immigration order out of his trick bag, the Labor Department is doing its part to let “at-risk” illegal workers know that they deserve a better life just by coming to America.
Labor Rights Week is for illegal workers, too
Observing 2014 Labor Rights Week, Perez’s department wants us to honor:
… the contributions of all workers, regardless of immigration status, through outreach and education events throughout the country.1
While our Labor Secretary boasts spending $1 billion on job training for citizens who need to ramp up their skills so they can seize their elusive American Dream,2 those citizens should be asking Perez why his department is still drumming up competition from illegal workers by promising them the minimum wage. This might be a good one to pass by White House policymakers, too, who have no business making policy on anything after their deer in the headlights response to thousands of illegals storming the border after six years of Democratic demands for amnesty.
It’s hard to say who is more feckless, a president who feigns surprise and begs for billions after promises of better jobs and wages and a liberal immigration fix lure illegal workers over the border, or Americans who will still show their support for Washington Democrats this fall after swallowing the story that the whole trumped-up border surge crisis comes from violence in Central America. Is it just plain old American arrogance? Do we think that we are the only ones with access to news and the internet and that people in other countries don’t pay attention to the reckless words of our politicians? With the president haranguing the country about a nationwide minimum pay raise, if I was determined to be one of America’s illegal workers I would be packing my bag and leaving for my better life in the U.S. right now.
Will Obama sell out low-skilled workers?
Perhaps blaming Obama administration officials for luring illegal workers to America is overstating the case. Maybe the Labor Department just wanted to put employers on notice about workers’ rights. Or maybe we aren’t being harsh enough about a promise to illegal workers waiting for America’s president to drop another hammer on citizens in low-skilled positions by making it easier for the undocumented to live and work in America. It doesn’t really matter. One way or the other, our illegal workforce will get the message.
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