Politics of Fear as Applied to Immigration

Sunday, Ace posted on this article about how enforcing our nation's laws is allegedly hurting farmers. In a similar vein, there was a front page feature in my local paper, the Wilmington News Journal, about immigration policy harming Delaware's horse racing industry (emphasis added):

Trainer Klesaris, who has 65 horses at Delaware Park and Maryland's Fair Hill Training Center, said that because of the work force problems, he won't expand his business. "The industry will continue to shrink if Congress doesn't do something about the visas," he said.

Horse racing, Lake said, is a "dying industry."

Delaware Park depends on its H2B workers, Wayne said. So much so that in March a representative traveled to Mexico to meet with the government and to arrange employment for Mexicans to come work at the facility, he said.

Klesaris called the Hispanic workers his "main soldiers."

"If this industry is to survive, we need more immigrant workers," he said. "The unemployment office isn't sending people to the racetrack. Our country has quite a bit of unemployment, but those people aren't coming our way to work, and they won't."

The article details how employers are supposed to advertise for American workers before hiring non-citizens, but a quick search of the News-Journal shows this to be a light effort. The state's workforce job listing also comes up empty.

Perhaps they aren't trying hard enough. BTW, a groom at Delaware Park gets $650+ a week plus bonuses. So how are the folks replacing the H2B workers as their visas expire? The article gives us a hint:

One 40-year-old groom, who would not give his name because his visa expired, said it's much easier to live on park grounds instead of "afuera."

The illegal quoted above is referring to the fact that Delaware Park, much like the farm mentioned in the first article, has living quarters on-site where illegals are harbored. Anyone at ICE taking notes?

Here's another from the News-Journal with a similar theme:

HAZLETON, Pa. -- The city's highly publicized campaign of targeting illegal immigrants threatens to drive away business and industry and damage prospects for economic revitalization, a new report asserts.

That's a bold claim considering the policy was blocked by the courts and never started.

I expect this theme to intensify as the election approaches. Stay tuned.

Update: Link fixed.