CNN

He has broken the LAW- (now twice)- but I'm pretty sure he won't be called to task over it.

Posted By PSK Lakeside, AZ : December 6, 2007 8:36 am

PSK, what law did Romney break exactly, come on now, you have a captive audience that can't wait for your thoughtful and brilliant response.

Mitt Romney fired this company only because it became public knowledge that the workers were illegals. He had to notice that these were Hispanics every time he used the company.

Posted By Eloise Hall, Albany, Georgia : December 5, 2007 4:44 pm

Thank you so much Eloise for making my earlier point.

So since it was reported by the Globe "Democrat" that these workers were in "plain view" and using your rational Eloise, BECAUSE THEY APPEARED TO BE HISPANIC they are AUOTOMATICALLY ILLEGAL?

We have a term for that and you Liberals "aint" going to like it, it's called racial profiling.

Would you liberals have been happy if he started asking for their papers?

Don't think so.

He was assured by the CONTRACTOR that they people the CONTRACTOR hired were legal and when it was shown that the CONTRACTOR was LYING, he fired the CONTRACTOR.

End of (non)story.

Yep, I agree with Frank. Ol' Mitt knew darn well he was probably employing illegal immigrants- I mean, come on- why pay full wages to someone, when you can keep even MORE of your burgeoning wealth by employing those that don't have to pay nasty things like taxes and insurance? I bet he's getting pretty good at looking aghast when these allegations hit the fan. Personally, I think this episode just continues to reflect the man's ability to lie and evade with ease. He has broken the LAW- (now twice)- but I'm pretty sure he won't be called to task over it.

To the tune of "The Fiesta Song":

Eeeees-ta es los Estados Unidos,
Esta no es Mexico...
Si usted no habla la English,
Regressa a Mexico...

(repeat)

To Justin in McLean who asked how in the world you check to see who's illegal:

It's called an I-9 form. Employers are responsible for reporting their employees' status to the IRS, and that requires checking documentation for citizenship. I've had to fill out this form and show my ID to new employers for every job I've held since I was 16 years old.

So what's your problem?

Americans need to learn how to compete in the global economy. In a global economy their are no borders, workers are free to travel from country to country. Jobs are given to the lowest bidder and unions are non existant. The Chinese live very comfortably on 25 cents on hour so why cant Americans learn how to live on 50 cents an hour. What the business community of the future is looking for is a worker who has an advanced degree, will work 70 hour a week for 50 cents an hour with no benefits. American can, through hard work and dedication, meet these goals and keep our country competitive in the global arena. Mass transit and communal living will keep expenses down so low wages wont be an issue. Having a good sound christian Philosophy will keep Americans happy while the stoke the engines of democracy.

Hey Mitt
Now, who's going to cut the grass, trim the hedges and shovel the snow?
And by the way, they're now illegal AND un-employed. Hope you provided severance pay so they can go home.
The jokes on you big fella!!!

Mitt Romney fired this company only because it became public knowledge that the workers were illegals. He had to notice that these were Hispanics every time he used the company.

Firing innocent, hard working people. Now they are out of a job. Gee, that solved the problem.

How pathetic. Is this what it's come down to. An issue that a hot topic and what does a candidate have to do....punish the working immigrant.

Winter is such a convenient time for him to fire the landscaping service. Mr. Romney is just engaging in a meaningless political gesture to try and persuade the xenophobes that he feels their hate.

As a discerning Democrat who watched the GOP CNN/YouTube Debate, I thought that Guiliani's "sanctuary mansion" comments were akin to a person in a glass house throwing rocks. Almost weekly, there is a new Guiliani scandal being reported by the mainstream media.

This election year, I was hoping that the candidates would actually discuss issues, instead of engaging in pitbull politics. But, even in Democratic circles, Hillary Clinton, who has many skeletons in her closet, continues to assail Obama, including his Kindergarten record. Sigh...

Issues is what we want discussed. We are tired of the rhetoric!

Sounds like Mitt is a man that will put his money where his mouth is. I like to see a politician a) giving folks an extra chance when they make a mistake, and b) following-up to take action when the offender doesn't follow-through on their end of the bargain.

Hopefully, the media will see this for what it is, and not for what it isn't.

But, you know the media...

Took him long enough....guess he thought no one would pay attention....

This is news???? Come on CNN!! Let's hear about actual politics and not this nonsense!

Next we'll hear about how Guliani is having an affair with his illegal maid!!

If this is the most controversial "scandal" to come out about Mitt; wow.

From what I have read Romney's defense is that it wasn't his responsiblity to verify the contracting firm hired illegal immigrants. Maybe that is true but if a contracting firm shows up at your home and a large number of them cannot speak english, it is safe to assume at least one is here illegally. Part of the naturilization process towards becoming a legal American citizen includes learning English. So its safe to assume if someone doesn't know one word of English, they are here illegally. He should have inquired right away and then fired them. I see people all the time picking up migrant workers at the local Home Depot and I just don't understand why you would bring someone to your home without knowing anything about them. It amazes me to no end that people would put their own family and themselves at risk just to save a dollar.

I think this story is going to do a few things in the political race. I think it will seriously hurt Mitt Romney's credibility standpoint on his immigration policies. I think however it will bring a huge creditability increase to anything that Mayor Giuliani says from this point forward at the debates especially if it is directed at Mitt Romney. To me as a voter, I sort of dismissed I take everything the candidates say at the debates with a grain of sand so I dismissed the incident at the debate until Mitt Romney fired the landscape company. That brought creditability to Mayor Giuliani in my mind so now I'll be listening much closer to what he has to say.

Reminds me of an old idiom, closing the barc doors once the horses are already out.

Brings to mind an old idiom; something about closing the barn door once the horses are out.

about time....I fire any company employing illegals....all you have to do is ask....when I did, the contractor acknowledged he did, but if I wanted he would send legals to do the job. I told him he missed the point. He lost a $20K job...and I told him that he should be prosecuted.....He was astounded and said he couldn't get Americans to work for $10 an hour with benefits.....I told him he was a liar then showed him the card of the ICE special agent in this area. He left in a hurry.....Put these bastards away. They may "pay" the illegals, but then demand kickbacks.

heres a good question if the boston globe didnt report that he was employing illegal immigrants would he have even cared?? or does he just talk a good game, but doesnt even back it up. i mean he has illegal aliens on his front lawn and hes running on "immigration reform" that alone should really change peoples mind about this guy. o yea and he flip-flops.

Good for you Romney- we should all do the same. We don't have to round up and deport the illegals or give them amnesty. Just start arresting the Americans that are hiring them and you will see the problem disappear. Illegals will go back to Mexico once they see that no one will hire them and that they are ineligible for welfare. The few that remain will be all that have to be deported.

Illegals= what Keith Olberman would describe as 'undocumented immigrants' or 'undocumented workers'

People, get REAL. When I hire a painter, a picture framer, shop at department stores, etc., etc. I – NOR DO YOU – review a listing of their entire workforce. That is for the company owner, who registers with the government and other law makers for business enterprise – to do. The U.S. government agencies should do their jobs. The people in those offices were hired to scrutinize their employees and sent their info to the government agencies - THOSE AGENCIES SHOULD BE DOING THEIR JOBS – NOT THE INNOCENT PEOPLE WHO HIRE OTHERS ON THEIR BEHALF.
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ARE HERE BECAUSE THE U.S.A. GOVERNMENT DIDN'T DO ANY OF THEIR OVERSIGHT. PUT THE BLAME WHERE IT BELONGS. nEXT TIME i GO TO THE SUPERMARKET i DON'T PLAN TO INTERVIEW EACH EMPLOYEE IN THE BUILDING!!!! i'LL BUY MY BREAD, ETC. AND TAKE IT HOME WITHOUT NEGLECTING ANY OF MY SO-CALLED SCRUTINY OF "IS THERE AN ILLEGAL WORKING HERE"????????

This is Ridiculous! Why is it Romney's or our responsibility to ensure that every single person in a company you hire to mow your lawn once a week has all legal immigrants?

How the hell would you even go about checking the status of random people? SHOW ME YOUR ID OR ILL ASK YOU GET FIRED!

This is a non-issue that the media is desperately trying to make into a scandal. I bet anyone who hires a lawn service often inadvertently hires illegal immigrants.

Romney is such a hypocrite. He says one thing, but then ignores anything he disagrees with. His health care 'plan' to make Private Insurance 'available to all' is a joke: Is he going to raise wages to allow us to pay for it or is he going to reduce the amount of premiums that insurance companies charge, thus impacting the almighty shareholders? I think that he's just copying Bush and lying about anything he doesn't want to deal with.

Just another Republican hypocrite! – kinda like 'Wide stance Craig'

The Boston Globe "Democrat" as it is called in these parts, would have skewered Romney if he went out and asked the illegals that were in "plain view" for their papers or proof of citizenship.

What the backlash of this is going to be if it blooms into a huge story, is that people are going to start REQUESTING or DEMANDING that when they hire a CONTRACTOR that anyone that steps on their property better have proof of citizenship or the authorities will be notified and they WILL LOSE the JOB.

Is that what you do good Liberals want to happen?

Be careful what you wish for.

FLIP FLOP... can't be trusted!

Can we fire Mitt from running for president? I like that he fired the landscape company for hiring illegals but I just don't like Mitt not one bit.

I believe this guy would fire his mother if he thought it would get him the nomination.

It's great that Mr. Romney fired the company for hiring illegals. Why wasn't the INS called to come arrest the illegals for deportation and why wasn't the owner of the landscaping company arrested for hiring them and the company shut down? The only way illegal immigration is going to come under control is when Americans who hire them are arrested for it as well. It may make good business sense to hire illegals for your company, but it doesn't help our country when the illegals send most of the money they make back to their home country. Americans need to wake up to the fact that there are Americans who violate the law just as much as the illegals. Anyone who breaks the law MUST be held accountable. American or illegal.

Any candidate who has had construction or remodeling or lawn work done has payed for an illegals wages and most of the people ramping up the hate have too. The contractor who put on your new roof was using illegals and if you asked him he would say they all have papers because he pays no penalty if they are caught.
So as we bash these people working for a living , the people hiring them continue to rake in giant profits and pay thier campaign stipends to the RNC, Hypocrisy incarnate, The GOP.

I can't believe there are still people out there who believe a word this man says. Why does anyone still support him? He's not honest, he has taken two positions on nearly every issue of importance, and every poll shows that he'll lose the general election in a landslide. And I saw one poll that showed that New Hampshire voters think he's the most electable Republican candidate. I thought the people of New Hampshire were supposed to politically savvy, but I guess they're as gullible as the rest of the country.

Righteously, Rudy royally rocked the Romnicans regal reality, rapidly reiterating Republican resentment regarding Romney's redux of resistance to regimentation. Romney rottenly replies wrongly!

Right-on Rudy!

That's right its illegal immigrant gardeners flushing our country down the tubes. All this public mistrust of lawmakers and corporations is because of Senor O'lay not Ken Lay. If someone with a sixth grade education from mexico, that can't speak english is threatening to take over your job, maybe you need a new job amigo. Over regulating every aspect of american life kind of defeats the purpose of a free country, we start picking and choosing we might as well throw in the towel for civil liberties, and unalienable rights.

Thats a landscape MAINTENANCE firm.
Not a landscape company.
The art of landscaping has nothing to do with lawn mowing or trimming bushes.

This really is the funniest development in the whole campaign so far. Romney truly is a joke.

Too late to save face buddy!

He just now decided to take action? Shame on you Mr. Romney.

Good for him, i'm glad he is getting hard handed with these people.

One more thing. Fred Thompson need to quit attacking other candidates, he just sounds dim witted to me. Romney has always been opposed to illegal immigration. That is one of the reasons that he impresses me. He is actually a leader with a back bone.

Good. We should all follow his example and hire American workers, or foreign workers who have the appropriate visas to be working in the United States.

I applaud Mr. Romney for allowing the landscaping company to make it right. That shows fairness on his part. And I applaud him for taking a stand when they refused to do the legal thing.

No suprise that Mitt Romney's carefully crafted focus group persona yet again fails to match up with reality.

what a crock, he knew he was employing illegals. he just didn't do anything about it until the media brought it up.
WHAT A HYPOCRITE!!!

Whooopsy!

What say you there Shawnie?

Let the spin begin!

“First Mitt Romney was FOR illegal immigrants working on his lawn, and then he was against it, then for it, and now I guess he’s against it again."

Am I the only one that sees this as a bit of a stretch? Is there really a pro-illegal-immigrants-working-on-lawns camp?

Yes, the flip-flop campaign worked brilliantly against Kerry. But then, it's as if the Democrats were sooo eager to try out that tactic, and they picked the first Rep. candidate who had changed their mind on something, namely Mitt on abortion. They started using it, and it stuck. Now everything he does is labeled a flip-flop, whether its the lawn-care service he uses, the hair gunk he lays on, the route he takes to work, anything. Is there even another substantive example of his flip-flopping? I've heard people shout about his gay-rights stance, but I can't find any inconsistencies. He said he was going to fight for their rights and prevent employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. He did so then, and he's never contradicted it. He never said he was pro-gay marriage. In fact, his speeches back when he was a supposed "liberal governor" speak out against gay marriage, just as they do now. Where's the flip-flop?

What flip-flop is the Thomspon campaign referring to when they say it "sounds like his position on amnesty"? I remember him saying he wanted comprehensive immigration reform, and applauded the Dems and Reps working together to come up with a solution. But 2-3 days after the bill came out, I remember hearing him call in to some talk radio station and explaining that he was against the bill because it favored those that were in the country illegally. I still don't see a flip-flop. Can anyone please enlighten me (preferably with substantive details rather than the lame political rhetoric)?

How does Mitt get bombarded with flip-flop accusations and everyone else gets a pass? Like Rudy filing a lawsuit to maintain NYC's funding despite it's Sanctuary City status, then claiming in the recent debate that NYC was never a sanctuary city? If it wasn't a sanctuary city, the city was in no danger and the lawsuit didn't need to be filed. Or what about Thompson saying to Fairtax.org on camera that he would like to see the income tax replaced by a 23% sales tax, then saying he misspoke and that he was definitely not in favor of a change that big to the tax code. I don't really have a problem with these candidates changing their mind, but why are some candidates seemingly immune to being called a flip-flopper?

Personally I want Mitt to lose the election. Not because people mistakenly think he's a flip-flopper or because he's Mormon, but because people realize that John McCain is the only one that's been right all along about how to win in Iraq, the one that has the most foreign policy experience, and the one that has the courage to stand for something.

Mitt Romney doesn't think that Huckabee is competition for him which proves to be Romney's greatest weakness. Romney is so targeted on Guiliani, that he has forgotten the other candidates' potential to win as well.

Good synopsis, Fred. But then, that's the same way Hillary likes to play politics, wavering back and forth until the question is resolved and then taking credit for her resolve all along.

NO ILLEGALS PERIOD!! ON MY MOTHER'S SIDE-MY GRANDFATHER CAME FRON CUBA AT 12YRS OLD. THAT WAS AFTER THE SPANISH AMERICAN WAR. HE WAS LEGAL!!! I'M GREMAN ,FRENCH FROM MY FATHER!! HEINZ 57 LIKE MOST!! NO FREEBE'S PERIOD IT'S THE LAW SO FOLLOW IT AMERICA!! NO FREE VOTE'S DUMMYCRATS!!

Do you think that if he wasn't running for President and afraid for the inevitable campaign commercial about this that he'd fire them or even care?
Business people like Romney know that hiring undocumented "illegals" is good business. That's all they care about – their own bottom line.

I wonder if Candidate Romney realizes that Utah - the state which he has so much in common with philosophically - is one of the mere handful of states which grants driver's licenses to undocumented (illegal) aliens?

ILLEGALS, LIKE RAWHIDE-HEAD EM UP -MOVE EM OUT-LOL

Ok, what is this? Nice reporting CNN, tell me more about Hickl-libby and this... irresponsible bias! CNN = Certainly No News.

HYPOCRITE ! Did anyone expect any thing different from Mitt? That’s what Republicans and Democrats that are Republican LITE do. LIE

Wow, is that how you handle immigrants Romney? now not only are they here anyways, but they no longer have jobs thanks to you. The immigration issue is like the war on drugs, we can decry those who participate but we all know someone who is involved one way or another. Immigrants won't go away by firing them, no fence will keep them out, we just need a system of laws that actually does something about it. There's no solution that will yeild tangeable results, and it's a problem that won't go away. Like it or not we are all guilty of supporting illegal immigration, and it goes beyond just gardeners. They are human's too, and they need a chance, but our laws are filled with holes.

This brings up a great point on Immigration. Romneys tough stand on Immigration is great Rhetoric but I want to hear from him and all of the other Candidates how the 13 million job illegal immigrants hold in this country will be replaced by Legalized workers? Also how are we going to get the 13 million illegal Aliens back to their countries? What is missing is that they will go collect government services far more than they do now when they fo not have a job.
They will not leave the country on their own and America does not have the resources to fill their positions. No Americans want to do the jobs they hold. If we Amercian Companies could outsource these jobs they would have by now.

Ut Oh! I suspect Mitt's boys will be cutting grass now.

I wonder if illegal immigrants sewd together Romney's magic Mormon underwear.

who hasn't had illegals working around their neighborhood? you can spot them a mile away