Mitt in the Shit

In a recent appearance on Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, Republican presidential hopeful and Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney professed such vociferous support for border security and the proposed fence along the border with Mexico that Bill O'Reilly dubbed it "the Mitt Romney Memorial wall." Part of an entire platform of issues on which Romney is shoring up his conservative credentials, his increasingly hardline position on illegal immigration is now being compromised, as a landscaping company he used for a decade has employed illegal Guatemalan immigrants.

The Globe recently interviewed four current and former employees of Community Lawn Service with a Heart, the tiny Chelsea-based company that provides upkeep of Romney's property. All but one said they were in the United States illegally.

The employees told the Globe that company owner Ricardo Saenz never asked them to provide documents showing their immigration status and knew they were illegal immigrants.

...Saenz said Romney never asked him if his workers are legal immigrants.

"He doesn't have to ask," Saenz said. "I'm a company."

Saenz asserted that all the workers he used were in the United States legally. Told by reporters that his employees said they were in this country illegally, Saenz responded: "What you've heard is not my problem."

Saenz said he had never requested any proof from his employees to show they are here legally.

"I don't need to tell them to show me documents," he said. "I know who they are, and they are legal."

Federal law calls for employers to examine the documents, such as green cards or Social Security cards, that establish an employee's identity and eligibility to work in the United States.

Romney, of course, had no legal nor ethical obligation to ask about the workers' legal status as a generic client of the firm. As the governor of the state, perhaps it would have been a wise idea. As a presidential candidate who is trying to establish himself as firmly right-wing on immigration, it was deeply foolish not to have made a basic inquiry. So why didn't he? Well, perhaps it's because, like many Americans, Romney generally considered illegal immigrants an entrenched and not particularly objectionable part of our workforce—until they became a useful wedge issue.

The workers who had landscaped Romney's property seemed unaware of the governor's support for stricter controls on illegal immigration. Several described casual encounters with Romney over the years and said he had never expressed any curiosity about their status.

Rosales recalled Romney sometimes waving as they tended to the grounds, which include a tennis court and swimming pool. Romney occasionally called out, "buenos dias," drawing good-natured laughter from the workers.

Workers who also "tended to the lawn at the house owned by Romney's son, Taggart, less than a mile away on the same winding street."

This would be a great opportunity for Romney to reverse his hardline position and instead talk about what an integral part of the American economy illegal workers actually are, and why it's thusly necessary to treat the issue with the nuanced seriousness it deserves. But I fully expect Romney to distance himself from Saenz, condemning his employment of illegal workers while claiming he's shocked—shocked—to learn of this situation. That is, once he manages to formulate a coherent response.

Asked by a reporter yesterday about his use of Community Lawn Service with a Heart, Romney, who was hosting the Republican Governors Association conference in Miami, said, "Aw, geez," and walked away.

Geez indeed.

(PEEK-ed.)