Lawn work at Romney’s home still done by illegal immigrants
How big an issue will this be for Romney?
Ricardo Saenz, owner of the company that employed illegal immigrants, worked on Romney’s lawn recently.
By Maria Cramer and Maria Sacchetti, Globe Staff; and Connie Paige, Globe Correspondent
Standing on stage at a Republican debate on the Gulf Coast of Florida last week, Mitt Romney repeatedly lashed out at rival Rudy Giuliani for providing sanctuary to illegal immigrants in New York City.
Yet, the very next morning, on Thursday, at least two illegal immigrants stepped out of a hulking maroon pickup truck in the driveway of Romney’s Belmont house, then proceeded to spend several hours raking leaves, clearing debris from Romney’s tennis court, and loading the refuse back on to the truck.
In fact, their work was part of a regular pattern. Despite a Globe story in Dec. 2006 that highlighted Romney’s use of illegal immigrants to tend to his lawn, Romney continued to employ the same landscaping company – until today. The landscaping company, in turn, continued to employ illegal immigrants
He fired them, end of story.
I know somebody who owns a landscape company here in Atlanta — his comment regarding workers goes something like; “If I could find 10 American guys who would show up sober, on time and ready to work, I would hire them. But they don’t. So I hire hispanics who I pay a minimum of $10 per hour (some as high as $20+ per hour) and they do what they are supposed to do.”