Posted on 12/04/2007 4:01:35 PM PST by mdittmar
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Tuesday fired a landscaping company for using illegal immigrants to work on his lawn, a week after a tussle with rival Rudy Giuliani over the issue.
Romney said in a statement released by his campaign that he had given the company, Community Lawn Service of Chelsea, Massachusetts, a second chance last year to get rid of its undocumented workers, but it had failed to do so.
"Today I fired a landscaping company that I learned was employing people who are not permitted to work here in the United States," the former governor of Massachusetts said.
At a debate last week in St. Petersburg, Florida, Romney accused Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, of turning a blind eye to illegal immigration in New York.
Giuliani fired back that Romney had knowingly hired a landscaping company with illegal immigrants, prompting an angry exchange with Romney.
Romney wrote a letter of termination to the landscaping company's owner, Ricardo Saenz.
"Today I learned that employees of your company, who were assigned to work on my property, are not permitted to work in the United States. Given your company's disregard for the clear instructions provided on this issue last year, I am forced to terminate my contract with your company, effective immediate," he wrote.
In his statement, Romney said the company's failure to comply with the law is "disappointing and inexcusable, and I believe it is important I take this action."
He should have called the INS.
I don’t think this makes him look good.
8 years too late..................phoney baloney.
Possibly, but they wouldn't come. They never do.
I don’t think he did it to look good. I think it is the right thing to do, and he did it. Regardless of how it made him look.
His choices — do nothing or make a change.
He decided to make a change. I respect him for doing something about the problem.
If we all followed suite, it WOULD make a difference.
They would have come running for a presidential candidate.
Why is nobody impressed?
Kinda like joining the NRA...and saying you are “life-long hunter” ( yeah, right...) RIGHT before you run for the POTUS...IMO.
Sure. But his decision should be a private one. Considering how the last debate went down, it’s like he caved to Rudy now.
Nice of the Mittster to get them all free health insurance at the Mass. taxpayers’ expense.
Are you aware of his answers to recent questions...in regards to this particular subject?
He decided to cave on what turned into an embarrassing political incident because he continued to employ a company that he already knew hired illegal aliens as laborers. It was a compelled action; so no, just as plastic as everything else in his campaign, and I'm shocked he's gotten as much traction as he has. Least the Huckster's usually up front about his crappy ideas.
Dumb mistake.
He even stated on his termination letter the issue was a year old.
So IOW he had a year to “hedge” his bets on this and blew it.
He’ll just find some other illegals to mow his lawn. He won’t be mowing it himself.
Sounds like he told the company to hide their illegals somewhere else when he should have called authorities the first time.
If someone hides a half ton of pot in my garage, I’m not going to tell them to hide it somewhere else (twice) I’m going to call the police.
What an idiot.
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