Thread: Aide: Romney unaware of illegal workers

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Aide: Romney Unaware of Illegal Workers
The Associated Press
Friday, December 1, 2006; 2:58 PM


BOSTON -- A top aide to Gov. Mitt Romney said Friday the 2008 White House hopeful was unaware that several of the workers employed by a lawn care company hired to take care of the grounds at his suburban home were illegal immigrants.

The Boston Globe said it interviewed in Spanish four current and former employees of Community Lawn Service with a Heart who worked on Romney's property. All but one said they were in the United States illegally.



Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, center, talks during a press conference as Nevada Gov.-elect Jim Gibbons, left, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt look on at the Republican Governors Association 2006 Annual Conference in Miami, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2006.(AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez) (Luis M. Alvarez - AP)

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The disclosure comes at a time when Romney is actively considering a run for president and when immigration is a top issue nationally. Eric Fehrnstrom, the Massachusetts governor's communications director, said Friday that Romney was not aware of or "knowledgeable about the information alleged."

"Governor Romney hired a legitimate Massachusetts lawn service company to take care of his yard. He knows the owner as a decent, hardworking person who is a legal resident," Fehrnstrom said.

The workers told the newspaper the company's owner, Ricardo Saenz, never asked them to show documents on their immigration status, which is required by federal law.

Saenz "never asked for papers,' said Rene Alvarez Rosales, 49. Rosales told the Globe in an interview in Suchitepequez, Guatemala, that he worked on and off for about eight years landscaping Romney's two-and-a-half acre property in suburban Belmont. Rosales said he had paid smugglers $5,000 to bring him across the U.S.-Mexico border.

The others were not named by the Globe.

Saenz, a legal immigrant from Colombia, said Romney has used his company's services for a decade and never asked him if his workers were legally in the country.

"He doesn't have to ask," Saenz said. "I'm a company." Saenz said all the workers he used were legal, but he never asked them for proof.

Romney has been critical of illegal immigration and supported building of a new 700-mile fence along the U.S. border with Mexico and stationing National Guard troops along the border.

He has said employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants should face penalties.

Just another plan to give them a path to citizenship, but don't call it amnesty! And note the 'extremist' rhetoric....'can't deport at gunpoint', but nothing about enforcing our current immigration laws.


The Lowell Sun

WASHINGTON -- Gov. Mitt Romney expressed support yesterday for an immigration program that places large numbers of illegal residents on the path toward citizenship, but criticized any form of "amnesty."

Speaking to reporters after a speech on education reform, Romney also invited outgoing White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, a Holbrook native, to challenge Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., in midterm elections this fall.

Romney's comments came as the Senate began heated debate on immigration reform. On Monday, the Judiciary Committee approved a controversial bill sponsored by Kennedy and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., that would make 11 million illegal immigrants eligible for citizenship.

"I don't believe in amnesty," Romney said, using a word voiced by Republicans to describe widespread forgiveness of illegal residency in the United States.

But at the same time, Romney said illegal immigrants should have a chance to obtain citizenship.

"I don't believe in rounding up 11 million people and forcing them at gunpoint from our country," Romney said. "With these 11 million people, let's have them registered, know who they are. Those who've been arrested or convicted of crimes shouldn't be here; those that are here paying taxes and not taking government benefits should begin a process towards application for citizenship, as they would from their home country."

The McCain-Kennedy bill would legalize the 11 million immigrants if they demonstrate they've paid taxes, can speak English, pass a civics test, pay $2,000 in fees and aren't criminals.

Massachusetts saw its illegal immigrant population increase from an estimated 55,000 people in 1990 to 200,000 people in 2004, according to a recent report by the Pew Hispanic Center

-- EVAN LEHMANN.