Unanswered questions from South Bend’s immigration “forum”

Pablo Ros did a great job in today’s South Bend Tribune, collecting questions that people planned to ask the politicians at South Bend’s immigration “forum”. As it turned out, audience questions and comments were not allowed.

Here’s one from Neris Gonzalez, a friend of the South Bend Catholic Worker:

Why, if people who work the fields and in factories are willing to work so hard, aren’t you willing to give them a livable minimum wage?

Here’s one from Rev. Christopher Cox, St. Adalbert Catholic Church:

[US Rep Chris] Chocola owns up to half a million dollars worth of Wal-Mart stock, according to a financial disclosure published in the Washington Post. Wal-Mart was fined $11 million last year for employing hundreds of illegal workers. Mr. Chocola, wouldn’t it be socially responsible of you to sell your Wal-Mart stock?

Chocola gave the Tribune a response that doesn’t answer the question:

“I voted for the U.S. House Immigration Reform bill that included an employer verification program that will give employers no excuse for hiring illegal immigrants,” Chocola replied Friday. “It also includes tough punishment for those that employ illegal immigrants.”

The followup question would be: Given that Wal-Mart has broken laws about employing illegals “hundreds” of times, why do you think they’ll follow new ones? Wouldn’t it be more ethical to divest yourself from a corporation that thumbs its nose at these laws? Shouldn’t you be putting your money where your mouth and votes are?

4 thoughts on “Unanswered questions from South Bend’s immigration “forum””

  1. I think more consumers need to be educated on how Wal-Mart mistreats others. I get very little money myself, but I’ve been doing my business at other stores as much as possible instead of rewarding Wal-Mart for what they’ve been doing.

  2. Road Runner….

    The Coyote finally got you.

    Road Runner was a transportation service which provided transportation to Medicaid recipients for over 20 years. I found out Wednesday that they will be out of business as of today. They said they have been fighting for 13 years to stay open.

  3. Hi, I live in South Bend, and Chris Chocola has done nothing good for America or his district. He’s a dirty little scumbag shill, and has his hands in the biggest-crimes and corruption in the history of American politics. Bush has been here no-less than five-times to support this gasbag, who can barely-speak publicly (like his boss in the White House). I invite many of you to follow this race, especially people in Europe, it will impact all of our lives after November.

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