Thread: Aide: Romney Unaware of Illegal Workers

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http://www.forbes.com/business/feeds/ap ... 21141.html

Associated Press
Aide: Romney Unaware of Illegal Workers
Associated Press 12.01.06, 2:58 PM ET

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.

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.


Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

Yeah and rush limbaugh spent years on the radio saying drug addicts should all rot in prison, all the while stoned on oxycontin that his illegal immigrant maid picked up for him.

How many of the recently outed flaming gay republicans were leading charges aimed at homosexuals?

They are for the most part two-faced liars and will do whatever they want while saying another. I know when they are telling a lie...because their mouths are open and words are coming out.

I can't really blame Romney for this faux pas. I'm sure he was never home when the lawn service came to do their work. It also appears he hired the lawn service legitimately, but the service hired illegal aliens as do probably 99% of lawn services. The whole industry needs to be addressed, but Romney himself shouldn't be ridiculed.