As Think Progress noted, John McCain doesn't mind cracking down on the illegal immigrants who are crossing the borders to find work, but when it comes to doing something about those businesses that hire them... maybe not so much.
McCain: Enforce Immigration Laws On Undocumented Workers, But Not On Businesses That Hire Them:
Since Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) signed the state’s new anti-immigrant bill into law last month, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has been a fervent supporter. The law gives state police broad power to identify, detain, and deport undocumented immigrants. McCain, who called the law a “good tool,” said last night on Fox News that he is “proud of the work” Brewer is doing on immigration, and justified the law “because the federal government would not enforce its responsibilities.”
But while McCain offers support for this new draconian law targeting day-laborers and other undocumented immigrants, he is not in favor of enforcing laws prohibiting employers from hiring undocumented workers. Instead, he would rather “secure the borders” before holding Arizona businesses accountable to the law.
As they point out this is just another flip-flop for the not-so-mavericky McCain:
Back in 2007, McCain wanted to “strengthen the laws and penalties against those who hire illegal aliens and violate immigration law.” Now, it seems that McCain is all for enforcing immigration laws when when it is politically convenient, as Arizona businesses are presumably more organized and have more money and influence than the state’s undocumented workers.
This man just gets more pathetic by the day as this Senate race of his goes on. Van Susteren at least asked a decent question here but of course with no follow up, like telling him that his answer is completely ridiculous. I used to get sick of the same stuff out of Lou Dobbs who would attack the poor people coming here looking for work night after night on his show, but never made it a point to highlight the businesses that were hiring them.
You dry up the employment and they're not going to be flooding over the border. We've got businesses addicted to slave labor and politicians who would rather demonize the slaves than fix the trade laws that destroyed their small farms and drove them here to begin with. And round and round we go. Step on the little guy's neck, pit the workers against each other that should be on the same side of an issue and give the big guys taking advantage of everyone a pass.
