Immigrant Daily

Janitor Sues the Governor

An owner of a janitorial company in Missouri is suing the Governor and some state agencies alleging that they discriminate against him because he was originally from Ghana and are improperly enforcing federal immigration laws.  “Sam” (Asamoah-Boadu’s English name) was caught in the crackdown on undocumented workers when 25 of his employees were detained on suspicion of having fake documents.  Four were found or pleaded guilty during the summer.  After the 25 were arrested, the Missouri Office of Administration terminated Sam’s janitorial contract and gave the contract to a much larger company – B&G Cleaning, which ironically employed three of the four guilty employees previously.

Having read this news, I wondered what was the real cause of breaking off the janitorial contract.  Was it overzealous immigration enforcement or a personal favor curried for the owners/operators of B&G?  The Columbia Missourian quotes Sam’s attorney:

 “What you’re basically creating is a situation where nobody that’s a contractor in the state of Missouri is going to hire any Hispanics,” Moen said. “Who’s going to take that risk? If you hire a bunch of Hispanics, they’re going to come after you.”

Sadly I fear that this is the reality of the situation.  If a concerned business owner has two applicants – one of whom is Hispanic, who will he choose?  Will he choose based on the person’s experience or good hard-working reputation, or by the color of the person’s skin or his native language?  I know that it is but a mere dream to hope that Congress will actually do anything about this issue right now (or ever), but I still hope that one day we will see a realistic immigration reform that will include a much more liberal visa program for temporary low-skilled workers.

The idea that we are protecting U.S. jobs by cracking down on undocumented workers is idiotic.  We are not protecting U.S. workers, because there are not enough of them to fill the demand.  How do I know?  Well, because the farmers who are resolute about not hiring undocumented workers, are not hiring U.S. workers either – they are buying machines and robots to fill the gap.  What does that tell me?  That the anti-immigrant groups who are trying to save jobs for citizens only may have a small problem — not enough citizens willing or able to fill the newly available jobs.  So no worries.  Who needs cleaners, farmers, cooks, mechanics, brick layers, or construction workers anyway?  Not me.

You can read the Columbia Missourian article here.