Trash or treasure?
Government, businesses definitely not on same page regarding illegal immigrants

October 4, 2007

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA ecepeda@suntimes.com

Hey Michael Chertoff, U.S. Homeland Security secretary, you made an interesting comment Monday in defending the building of 700 miles of barriers and fencing along our southern border the Bush administration believes will keep pesky illegal aliens out.

You told the AP: "Illegal immigrants really degrade the environment. I've seen pictures of human waste, garbage, discarded bottles and other human artifact in pristine areas. And believe me that is the worst thing you can do to the environment."

Really? And I thought the worst thing was the U.S. insistence on ignoring the Kyoto Protocol. After all, until China's recent industrial revolution we've held the dubious title of world's largest producer of greenhouse gases.

Oh, you meant on the border? But what about all the cactus pygmy owls, bighorn sheep and Rio Grande River ocelots who are in danger of being wiped out by the barriers? Animals don't have extension ladders.

Silly little quibbles, I know.

But you didn't mention the rotting carcasses of those streaming in to take jobs that businesses continue to dangle before their impoverished eyes littering the border.

Ironic that those same big businesses are keeping the federal "no-match" rules -- which would force employers to verify the residency status of workers -- from going into effect. A federal judge in San Francisco delayed it again because "... this is a potentially enormous burden on the employer."

Perhaps those same businesses can help you clean up all that burdensome border trash.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/cepeda/587 ... 04.article