February 14, 2006

National Restaurant Association and illegal immigration

The National Restaurant Association is a very large trade group for restaurant owners, and they as much as admit that some of their members are employing illegal aliens. And, as "Illegal immigrants: 'Dirty little secret' of restaurant world" makes clear, many restaurants know that they are engaging in illegally activity. And, that's something that the NRA seems to support:

...Undocumented workers are so essential to the food industry nationwide that the National Restaurant Association has made stopping the Sensenbrenner-King bill its top priority in Congress this year.

"We value the work done by our employees, documented or not," said John Gay, the group's chief of government affairs and public policy in Washington.

"It's not like they broke into the bank to rob it," said Gay. "They broke into the bank to sweep the floor."

Here's an overview of contributions by restaurants and bars to politicians. For the 2006 cycle, the NRA has donated almost half a million dollars to various politicians and groups, 90% of it to the GOP. In fact, in the 2004 cycle they gave over a million, and they've even got their own page.

When an association as much as admits that some of its members are engaging in illegal activity, and when they give money to politicians and when politicians like George Bush look the other way on enforcing the laws being broken, what do we normally call that?

Maybe the Philly Inquirer should look into that.

Posted to Immigration at February 14, 2006 11:36 AM

Comments

Don't be shy, it's called bribery and treason.

Posted by: Smitty at February 14, 2006 03:52 PM

Here is a list of the top recipients of the Restaurant and Bar Association supporting Illegal Immigration. (From your link Lonewacko)

Restaurants & Bars:
Top 20 Recipients

Election cycle: 2006
List Top 20: All Recipients Presidential Candidates Senators Members of the House Senate Candidates House Candidates All Members of Congress
Rank
Candidate
Office
Amount

1
Santorum, Rick (R-PA)
Senate
$46,650

2
Allen, George (R-VA)
Senate
$39,340

3
Talent, James M (R-MO)
Senate
$38,100

4
Hatch, Orrin G (R-UT)
Senate
$33,499

5
Young, Don (R-AK)
House
$29,100

6
Keller, Ric (R-FL)
House
$29,000

7
Mack, Connie (R-FL)
House
$23,000

8
DeLay, Tom (R-TX)
House
$22,200

9
Ford, Harold E Jr (D-TN)
Senate
$21,700

10
Kyl, Jon (R-AZ)
Senate
$18,500

11
Bonilla, Henry (R-TX)
House
$18,000

12
Clinton, Hillary Rodham (D-NY)
Senate
$16,620

13
Blunt, Roy (R-MO)
House
$16,500

14
Dent, Charles Wieder (R-PA)
House
$15,000

15
Lugar, Richard G (R-IN)
Senate
$14,623

16
McHenry, Patrick (R-NC)
House
$13,800

17
Burns, Conrad (R-MT)
Senate
$12,350

18
Porter, Jon (R-NV)
House
$11,500

19
Klobuchar, Amy (D-MN)
Senate
$11,450

20
Northup, Anne M (R-KY)
House
$11,000

20
Whalen, Mike (R-IA)
House
$11,000

Notice that out of the top 20, only three (#9 Ford, #12 Hillary, and # 19 Klobucher are Democrats). The Republican Party should be ashamed to openly support breaking our laws. No honor here.

Posted by: LomaAlta at February 14, 2006 04:20 PM

The cost of making ends meet in us is the same for the illegals as it is for legal citizens. The employers who are paying these people less are then turning them over to the taxpayers to supplement them. They do not pay taxes, a big savings to them. They receive free education and healthcare and food from WIC. etc. American taxpayers are footimg the bill for these employers to have cheap labor.

Posted by: treehugger at August 29, 2006 11:50 PM