I have to admit I’ve been disappointed with Obama of late. More for what he’s not done than what’s he’s done, but a series of events has made me wonder if I even really know what he has done or what he is doing.
I read a fascinating article on MSNBC titled 'Silent raids' sweep illegal workers from jobs reporting that the Obama administration has replaced Bush’s bold law enforcement raids on companies with quieter auditing raids. The non-legal employees are fired instead of being deported. The companies are fined. It’s exactly the kind of thing people have been saying for years should be done: Target the companies, not the workers.
A few choice excerpts from the article (though I recommend reading the entire thing, it’s pretty good):
Over the past year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has conducted audits of employee files at more than 2,900 companies. The agency has levied a record $3 million in civil fines so far this year on businesses that hired unauthorized immigrants, according to official figures. Thousands of those workers have been fired, immigrant groups estimate.
"Instead of hundreds of agents going after one company, now one agent can go after hundreds of companies," said Mark K. Reed, president of Border Management Strategies, a consulting firm in Tucson that advises companies across the country on immigration law. "And there is no drama, no trauma, no families being torn apart, no handcuffs."
Couple this with the story that came out last week that the Obama FDA has quietly banned antibiotics in livestock production and I find myself being given pause. What else is our ninja president doing quietly behind the scenes? And why isn’t this sort of thing being reported more openly?