Guilty Corporations Fund Hypocritical Anti-Migrant Politicians

As politicians continue to use migrants for their own political purposes, a pattern is emerging.  Migrants are bearing the brunt of their political posturing, while the people that hire and benefit from them go without punishment.  See my post on the New Bedford raid if there’s any question about that.  I’m just wondering how long it’s going to take before anti-migrant advocates realize what kind of leaders and policies they are empowering with their actions.

I was just trying to brush up on my video making skills when I made the above video.  The actual story, of course, is more complicated than that.  Bank of America has been singled out for anti-migrant ire because the company loosened credit card requirements.  In actuality, the bashing of Bank of America fits the pattern of bashing migrants over the people that hire and benefit from them.  People would rather prevent migrants from getting a credit card than punish the people that give them jobs, or give them opportunities in the countries that they come from if they really wanted to fix the problem. 

Still filtering through the Center for New Community’s report entitled Nativism in the House, I was able to find a host of guilty business contributing to the 2006 campaigns of anti-migrant politicians.  As I state in the video, Bank of America donated $102,250, or approximately 13% of the caucus’s total donations. This makes Bank of America one of the top 150 political action committees contributing to the very same people that, in theory, should be against Bank of America. 

The report specifically singles out another company, Home Depot, which has had an ongoing problem with day laborers:

Consider the Home Depot Inc. PAC, which gave $130,500 in campaign

contributions to HIRC politicians, more than 17% of its total

donations. Yet, because of its non-hostile attitude toward

day-laborers, Home Depot has been under repeated attack by

anti-immigrant organizations.

Raising Kaine (here and here) has also been doing some good work exposing these relationships, specifically Smithfield Foods, which has been caught hiring migrants staying in the country illegally.  Human Rights Watch has a report documenting the abuses of Smithfield Foods and the migrants they employ.  Here in Massachusetts I’ve seen people workers tout a Smithfield Justice campaign.  I don’t understand how you can profess to be “Pro-America” at the same time that you accept contributions from this company. 

Read what Lowell, from Raising Kaine, has to say.

By now, I’m sure we all know that Smithfield Foods has been and

continues to be a major employer of illegal immigrants.  For instance,

see here and here and of course here.

So who are the main beneficiaries in Virginia of contributions by

illegal-hiring and union-busting Smithfield Foods?  Let’s go to VPAP:

*Over the years, Smithfield Foods has given $518,893 to Republicans, $157,250 to Democrats.  That’s 77% to Republicans, 23% to Democrats.

*This year alone, Smithfield Foods has given $73,650 to Republicans,

including Dave Albo ($1,000), Ken Cuccinelli ($500), Jeannemarie

Devolites Davis ($1,000), Bob McDonnell ($20,000), Bill Bolling’s

Building a Better Virginia PAC ($5,000), Bill Howell’s Dominion

Leadership Trust PAC ($2,500), the Republican Party of Virginia

($10,000), the House Republican Campaign Committee ($10,250), and the

Virginia Senate Republican Leadership Trust ($10,000). 

*True, Smithfield has given to Democrats as well, but far less than to Republicans (a 3:1 ratio).  Also, it’s the Republicans

who are the main ones railing against illegal immigrants, yet taking

wads of money from companies that hire illegal immigrants. 

So here’s the bottom line: Republicans are hypocrites

on this issue, big time.  If not, they should refuse any money from

companies, like Smithfield Foods, that employs and exploits illegal

immigrants.  They should return any money they’ve already received.  If

not, we should all feel free to ignore every word they have to say on

this issue, because they’re completely full of it.

Lowell also has another post at Raising Kaine explaining the systemic nature of this issue:

According to NPR,  of the 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States today, “[m]ore than half work in construction, manufacturing or leisure and hospitality.”

Now, let’s look at where the money from those industries went in 2006:

CONSTRUCTION

Republicans: $38,129,511

Democrats: $16,154,953

That’s 70% to Republicans, 30% to Democrats

MANUFACTURING

Food Products Manufacturing

Republicans: $1,511,309

Democrats: $621,898

That’s 71% to Republicans, 29% to Democrats

Chemical & Related Manufacturing

Republicans: $4,570,892

Democrats: $1,379,789

That’s 75% to Republicans, 25% to Democrats

Pharmaceutical Manufacturing

Republicans: $7,731,388

Democrats: $3,158,977

That’s 70% to Republicans, 30% to Democrats

LEISURE AND HOSPITALITY

Restaurants & Bars

Republicans: $5,891,298

Democrats: $2,084,281

That’s 73% to Republicans, 26% to Democrats

Getting the picture?  That’s right, the industries that are the biggest

employers of illegal immigrants in this country are also heavy donors

to Republicans.  Why do Republicans take money from industries that

“break the law,” as they like to claim?  To throw their own idiotic

phrase right back at them, “what part of
‘illegal’ don’t Republicans

understand?”

If I haven’t made it clear enough yet, anti-migrant politicians are taking anti-migrant advocates for a ride.  They are bashing migrants at the same time that they use the contributions from the people that employ them to re-elect themselves.  Which is why I ask anti-migrant advocates, are these politicians acting in your interest?