Linda Chavez On Her Own Role In An Illegal-Employing Industry
10/06/2007
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In Frontpagemag.com, there's a debate on immigration in which Linda Chavez is taking part—she says:

Most of the people screaming the loudest in this debate have never worked one day in private industry and have no idea how Kafkaesque a world IRCA, combined with necessary civil rights protections and entirely outdated and Social Security and immigration information systems, has created for employers. I have served for 12 years on the board of directors of several public companies and have seen from the inside what problems the system creates for employers who are absolutely committed to following both the spirit and the letter of the law.[ The Immigration Debate FrontPageMagazine.com | Friday, October 05, ]

I did a column in 2002 called Linda Chavez Cleans Up With Cheap Labor which pointed out that as a member of the board of directors of ABM Industries, Inc., a major national janitorial firm, she's working in a "highly-competitive, price-driven business. Labor costs make up 80 per cent of its overhead. "

That's why, as I wrote then,

Linda Chavez has repeatedly preached the benefits of mass immigration, even after the Arabs hit the Twin Towers - killing 17 employees of ABM Industries , and displacing 1,200 workers.

So it’s, well, interesting to note that since 1997, she’s been director of a company that depends on a steady supply of cheap labor for its existence.

It gives you a new attitude to Chavez quotes like:

”Make no mistake: U.S. employers in many industries are desperate for Mexican and other foreign labor.” — Linda Chavez, [Those immigrants, syndicated column, February 22. 2001]

She does have a legitimate point about Civil Rights harassment of employers who check for illegals—covered both in my column about her, and in Marcus Epstein's Indiscriminate Anti-Discrimination Enforcement: Why Is It Illegal To Check For Illegals?

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