Thread: Oregon man protests illegal workers _ alone

Sep 10, 4:30 AM EDT


Oregon man protests illegal workers _ alone



PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Tom Wenning calls himself a liberal and says he disagrees with conservative commentator Lars Larson on just about every issue.

Except one.

Several times a week, Wenning stages a one-man protest outside Portland's taxpayer-sponsored day laborer hiring center. He opposes illegal immigration, and thinks the city is promoting it by giving day laborers, many of them undocumented workers, a place to seek work.

"They are making it easy for them to stay here. They are enabling them to break the law," Wenning, 60, told The Oregonian recently. "Of course that makes me mad. That should make everyone who cares about our city and our country mad."

When potential employers arrive at the hiring site, Wenning takes pictures of them and their license plate. He hands them a paper explaining that the photos will be sent to the Internal Revenue Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Oregon Department of Revenue.

Most contractors take the sheet without saying a word.

Wenning said he's been getting increasingly frustrated with the federal government's inability to police the borders and local government's refusal to help enforce the laws. Hiring undocumented workers is against federal law, although crackdowns are rare.

Wenning disagrees with those who say illegal immigrants are taking jobs Americans don't want.

"It's not a racial thing. It's common sense," he says. "We don't have the natural resources to support all these people. We don't have the infrastructure. We don't have enough jobs. White people could do this work if there weren't all these illegals here doing them under the table for a lot less than anyone should get paid."

Last year, Mayor Tom Potter criticized the federal government after immigration agents raided a North Portland plant. He and the City Council later voted to spend $200,000 to start the day laborer center, making Portland one of 65 U.S. cities to offer laborers some kind of hiring center.

Potter contends that government should show compassion by giving the often-exploited workers a safe place to gather.

Wenning says city leaders ignored his questions when he testified during a three-hour hearing on the issue last spring.

"After that, I knew I had to do something," he says. "To go and speak and realize that they'd already made up their minds, I took it very personally."




http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/ ... TE=DEFAULT

It's not a racial thing. It's common sense," he says. "We don't have the natural resources to support all these people. We don't have the infrastructure. We don't have enough jobs. White people could do this work if there weren't all these illegals here doing them under the table for a lot less than anyone should get paid."

AMEN!!!

I hope this man stays safe. Though I commend what he's doing doing it alone can be very dangerous.

Now there's a patriot.

Most praise man protesting illegal labor
Monday, September 15, 2008
The Oregonian

Like protester Tom Wenning ("Angry man stands alone against illegal workers," Sept. 10), I hope I'm in the majority in thinking that the government should enforce laws against illegal immigrants rather than provide hiring sites and encourage the erosion of our quality of life.

It's simple enough: When an illegal worker occupies job "A," the person who would otherwise have that job is forced to take job "B."

When the illegal workers will work without benefits and safety standards, those elsewhere on the ladder are expected to lower their expectations as well, and workers suffer, while those in charge of collecting the tainted profits sing their way to the bank.

As one who years ago was displaced from a career path by a foreigner with no background or training in an industry that had once been one with union representation, I applaud Wenning's bravery and patriotism.

GREG BOESHANS Beaverton

Your article about Tom Wenning bringing attention to the day laborer site built with taxpayer funds in Portland is meant to be as denigrating as possible.

The second sentence mentions his "brief stint in prison," which happened about 30 years ago, and "multiple marriages," which is almost the norm today -- as if either of those things has anything to do with his position on this issue.

By the way, Wenning is correct in believing that there are many who agree with him.

What would happen if I decided I wanted to work but not pay taxes, as these illegal immigrants do, and the people who hire them pay no Social Security taxes? I'd be breaking the law, but it seems to be OK for illegals to not pay taxes. Wenning is also correct that the city is breaking federal law by harboring illegal immigrants. The fact that other cities offer illegals hiring centers does not make it right.

What is not mentioned is that the United States has thousands of work visas for immigrants to come here legally, but gee, that means background checks.

JOINELL FRIEDSTROM Gresham

In your piece on immigration enforcement champion Tom Wenning, there appears to be a discrepancy in his reasoning.

In the same quote where he states, "It's not a racial thing. It's common sense," he continues that "White people could do this work if there weren't all these illegals here . . .."

Being an illegal immigrant is not a designation of color but rather of status. I'm not one to judge Wenning's biases based on one quote, but there are those who would.

MIKE INGALA Northwest Portland

We're not "angry" about the day labor site, we're disgusted that our own taxpayer-supported, elected government won't enforce the laws on the books.

As citizens, we're expected to obey the law, but illegal immigrants get a pass. An illegal immigrant isn't, by law, allowed to work here, and employers break the law each time they hire one.

Breaking the law used to mean that you were a criminal, but no longer. Who decides which laws are enforced and which ones aren't?

BARBI ANDERSON Southwest Portland

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