It’s very rare that you see a politician, even a politician in a safely liberal city, tell the truth about immigration. But that’s exactly what Jim Kenney did at the Philadelphia restaurant summit, and he deserves our support:
But there he was at Tequilas, the popular Center City Mexican restaurant, going off on the injustice of treating immigrant workers harshly—“whether documented or undocumented, I really don’t care,” he told an audience of nonprofit reps, restaurant workers, owners and media. “After 9/11, everyone became a ‘terrorist’—including that Mexican guy on a bike going from his lawn care job to his restaurant job. He is no threat to me, whatsoever. He is no threat to this country, whatsoever.”
More immigration is good for the country – high skill and low skill. Immigrants do not take people’s jobs. The best evidence shows the jobs low-skill immigrants do complement existing jobs, and modestly raise the wages of native workers. What’s more, the people who come here are by definition not lazy. It takes a very ambitious person to move themselves and their family thousands of miles away to another country in search of greater opportunity. That is exactly the sort of person we want moving here.
Good posts on this from Randy LoBasso and Jake Blumgart.
Kenney has no shame and would sell his first-born in return for votes that would keep him in office. Someone should remind this charlatan that he violates not only his sworn oath of office but also existing federal law by aiding and abetting illegal aliens. This man is, and has long been, guilty of dereliction of duty. When those we most entrust to uphold and enforce existing law are the same most guilty of violating our laws we can expect nothing more than the anarchy that current exists.
Councilman James Kenney is a true champion for restaurant workers — immigrant and non-immigrant. Last year he introduced a bill that prevents restaurant owners from taking a portion of tips left on credit cards to cover the service charge. We were honored to have him speak at our summit about restaurant industry conditions in Philadelphia. Check out the most comprehensive report ever conducted on Philadelphia’s restaurant industry: http://rocunited.org/behind-the-kitchen-door-the-hidden-reality-of-philadelphias-thriving-restaurant-industry/