Here’s a great one from the Los Angeles Daily News:

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is asking federal officials to rethink their policy on workplace immigration crackdowns that involve established businesses and to focus on employers that mistreat workers instead.

The mayor said in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that work-site raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement could have ’severe and long-lasting effects’ on the local economy, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.

ICE made more than 4,900 work-site arrests nationwide in fiscal 2007, a 45-fold increase over the number in 2001, authorities said.

More than 130 undocumented workers were arrested at a San Fernando Valley manufacturing company in February and over 60 workers were arrested for immigration violations at South Bay-area warehouses last week.

Los Angeles companies such as clothing manufacturer American Apparel Inc. have reported being questioned by ICE officials about their hiring procedures.

Villaraigosa accused federal officials of targeting ‘established, responsible employers’ in industries that rely on ‘workforces that include undocumented immigrants.’

‘In these industries, including most areas of manufacturing, even the most scrupulous and responsible employers have no choice but to rely on workers whose documentation, while facially valid, may raise questions about their lawful presence,’ he wrote in the March 27 letter.

He said ICE should spend its limited resources targeting employers who exploit wage and hour laws.

Arg.  What a cynical, duplicitous piece of shit Villaraigosa is.  It’s enough to make a guy sick.

Here are a few questions I have about this deal:

• Is Villaraigosa a Hispanic name, or is it just my imagination?  Is Mayor Villaraigosa really the son of a Mexican immigrant father and a California-born mother of Mexican descent?  Why yes, he is.  And what does “Mexican immigrant father” mean, anyway?  Does it mean his father might have been an illegal alien?  Maybe.  If so, can Antonio Villaraigosa be in any way objective when it comes to immigration enforcement?  It’s debatable.
• Is it the job of the Mayor of Los Angeles to shepherd the “limited resources” of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (and the Department of Homeland Security)?  Or is that someone else’s job?  Could it be, say, Michael Chertoff’s job?
• Is immigration enforcement a Federal or a local responsibility?  It’s (ostensibly) a Federal responsibility.  So if Villaraigosa is so unhappy with what ICE is doing in his precious city, perhaps the Feds should revoke ALL law enforcement funding for Los Angeles—including stuff like this.  I mean, there’s no gang violence problem in LA, is there?  (No self-respecting illegal alien would join a street gang, anyway.)
• When elected mayor of LA, I wonder how many votes Villaraigosa received from undocumented immigrants?  Just sayin’.

Here’s a factoid.  Did you know that Villaraigosa (formerly Tony Villar) is the former head of the UCLA chapter of an organization called MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán, or Chicano Student Movement of Aztlán)?

So what is MEChA?  Here’s an excerpt from the preamble of the organization’s national constitution:

Chicano and Chicana students of Aztlán must take upon themselves the responsibilities to promote Chicanismo within the community, politicizing our Raza [race] with an emphasis on indigenous consciousness to continue the struggle for the self-determination of the Chicano people for the purpose of liberating Aztlán.  [Emphasis added.]

And here’s an excerpt from Article II (Organizational Objectives) of the MEChA constitution:

To strive for educational, cultural, economical, political, and social empowerment within the Chicano community in order to liberate nuestra gente [our people].  [Emphasis added.]

Hmm.  They seem rather fond of speaking about liberation and self-determination, don’t they?  And what is this “Aztlán” thing of which they speak?  Well, as used in the present context, Aztlán refers to this:

The concept of Aztlán as the place of origin of the pre-Columbian Mexican civilization has become a symbol for various Mexican nationalist and indigenous movements.

The name Aztlán was first taken up by a group of Chicano independence activists led by Oscar Zeta Acosta during the Chicano movement of the 1960s and 1970s. They used the name “Aztlán” to refer to the lands of Northern Mexico that were annexed by the United States as a result of the Mexican-American War. Combined with the claim of some historical linguists and anthropologists that the original homeland of the Aztecan peoples was located in the southwestern United States, Aztlán in this sense became a symbol of mestizo activists who believe they have a legal and primordial right to the land.

Groups who have used the name “Aztlán” in this manner include Plan Espiritual de Aztlán, MEChA, and the Nation of Aztlán (NOA).

Many in the Chicano Movement attribute poet Alurista for popularizing the term Aztlán in a poem presented during the Chicano Youth Liberation Conference in Denver, Colorado, March 1969.  [Wikipedia; emphasis added.]

Oh, I get it!  Aztlán is this:

More about Aztlán and Absolut Vodka here.

To Antonio (Tony) Ramon Villar, Jr. (a.k.a. Antonio Villaraigosa):

Screw you, you liberationist bastard!  Did the management of American Apparel pay you to write that letter to Chertoff or…?

Just askin’.

More about Villaraigosa’s illegal alien sanctuary policy:

Hyscience and Cobb.

Technorati Tags: Mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, federal officials, workplace immigration crackdowns, employers, Homeland Security Secretary, Michael Chertoff, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, local economy, Los Angeles Times, ICE, work-site arrests, San Fernando Valley, immigration violations, Los Angeles, American Apparel Inc., ICE officials, hiring procedures, undocumented immigrants, Hispanic name, Mexican immigrant father, California-born, mother of Mexican descent, illegal alien, Mayor of Los Angeles, limited resources, Federal responsibility, law enforcement funding, Tony Villar, UCLA chapter, MEChA, Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán, Chicano Student Movement of Aztlán, national constitution, Chicano, Chicana, Aztlán, Chicanismo, Raza, self-determination, liberating, Organizational Objectives, Mexican nationalist, indigenous movements, Chicano independence activists, Oscar Zeta Acosta, Chicano movement, Northern Mexico, annexed by the United States, Mexican-American War, Aztecan peoples, southwestern United States, mestizo activists, legal and primordial right to the land, Plan Espiritual de Aztlán, the Nation of Aztlán, Alurista, Chicano Youth Liberation Conference, liberationist bastard

Bookmark: