This is how they celebrate Labor Day in St. Charles: take aim at the laborers.
Following a similar move in Valley Park, St. Charles County Councilman Joe Brazil is preparing to introduce a bill tonight that would fine employers up to $500 per day for each illegal immigrant they employ.
Valley Park’s recently passed ordinance punished business owners who hire illegal immigrants by revoking their licenses and landlords that rent to illegals by fining them up to $500. Jim Shrewsbury, President of the St. Louis City Board of Aldermen, recently commented on the Valley Park legislation on his website.
“While reasonable people will agree that breaking the law is wrong, by passing its illegal immigrant ordinance Valley Park has carved out a dual reputation for itself. Some will forever see the town as a place of bigotry and intolerance. Others will see Valley Park as a model American city,” said Shrewsbury.
Many Mexican-Americans, who are legal residents, believe that these new laws could lead to an increase in hiring discrimination. Brazil and supporters of his bill say local governments have to do something if the federal government won’t.
It’ll be interesting to see how long St. Charles’ housing boom lasts after this.
September 5th, 2006 at 11:46 am
Lots of people say that going after employers is the best way to humanely curb some of the undocumented immigration across the country. This is also the one thing republicans WON’T do. While establishing an official language and fining landlords is just completely ridiculous, this makes some sense. It is a fact that having too many immigrants can strain communities, but at the same time you can not blame them for coming for jobs. Crack down on those who hire undocumented immigrants and they will not come in the numbers they do now.
September 6th, 2006 at 6:21 am
President Bush has been fond of comparing the Iraqi insurgents to Nazi’s. What is interesting though is that the behavior of the Republican party–finding scapegoats and ousting them from the country–is exactly where the Nazi’s started in their campaign of domination. We’ve already seen freedoms of speech, privacy, and assembly fall under attack, and now a scapegoat for the nation’s ills has been picked. Knowing history, we all should be aware of where this is going. Had enough? Vote Democrat!
September 6th, 2006 at 7:47 am
The President of the Valley Park Board of Aldermen was on KWMU last week. He said they passed the law basically to deal with crime and drugs. He connected immigrants to lawless action… He even said he had no real proof of the situation but this law is good anyway.
The simple fact is that these WASP communities are simply bigots. The fact that their citizens are not protesting such blatant bigotry in legislation is an indication of their support. Further marginalizing a group of people who are basically slave labor is not going to solve their problems.
September 6th, 2006 at 8:02 am
Calling President Bush Hitler is an insult. Bush is a not even on the same planet as Hitler. He cannot even be compared to Nixon. Lets not forget the various affronts to liberty committed during the Civil War, during World Wars 1 and 2. Dissent against the government was basically illegal during WW 1 for fear of communism, until the Supreme Court ruled otherwise. President Lincoln removed Habeas Corpus. Lets not forget the Japanese Internment which was supported by both former US Supreme Court Chief Justice, and then Governor of California, Earl Warren along with Mr. New Deal F.D.R. under Executive Order 9066.
Bush never lied about his intentions to invade Iraq. He hinted at the possible conflict in the media many times since since 2001. His WMD excuse was an obviously horrible justification, but Bush never hid his desire to invade Iraq. Instead of knocking Bush and saying hes the worst President in US History, please look at the History. Attack his policies but do not call him Hitler. An appropriate critique would be to say that gave up our liberties, are engaged in global war, have record gas prices, yet our country is no more secure than in 2000. In effect we have neither liberty or security. Maybe because we forgot that famous mantra?