Illegal Aliens 'Cleaning Up' in Boston Area
Barbara Anderson
March 03, 2006
The Wall Street Journal of February 16, 2006 carried the story ?Immigrant Group Puts a New Spin On Cleaning Niche in Boston Area? by Joel Millman. The story could serve as a typical commentary on the influx of illegal aliens, why and how they enter the country and what kinds of jobs they are taking away from American citizens. While some in our government are promoting ?guest worker? (read amnesty) status for those who have already sneaked into our country to do work ?Americans won?t do?, we see illegals branching out from those jobs, moving up the employment ladder and even becoming entrepreneurs in forming their own businesses.
Millman explores the cleaning business of one Maria Da Graca de Sales, a presumed Brazilian. She runs a business that provides a sort of franchise for cleaning ?routes?. With a gross of more than $100,000 annually, she has 70 clients, according to the story. However, other Brazilians start off as cleaners, with some saving enough money to purchase their own routes from people like Ms. De Sales, who has learned the business of creating routes to sell to others who are just starting out.
It is costly and complicated emigrating from Brazil, often by way of Mexico, to ultimately get the opportunity to sneak into the U.S., thereby insuring that only the somewhat well-off are able to make that difficult journey. However, to participate in even the most humbling income opportunities, Brazilians are represented by former dentists, school teachers, and journalists, according to Millman.
Although Ms. De Sales had a good job working for Brazil?s treasury department in the city of Governador Valadares, she dreamed of making enough money to put her three children through college. After entering the U.S. illegally through Mexico, she worked in Florida?s orange groves until she saved enough money to pool resources with her brother Gerardo to bring her teenage children from Brazil. Eventually, the three children were able to join their mother in Framingham. Their Uncle Gerardo also joined them. In the daytime the adults worked at restaurant jobs (which no American would do?). The children were kept busy after they enrolled in Framingham?s vocational high school (supported by taxpayers?). From 4:00 p.m. to midnight, a local Sheraton hotel employed all five as housekeepers (children working against child labor laws, perhaps?).
Ms. De Sales passed her U.S. citizenship exam in 2000 after applying for amnesty. The story does not tell how this was achieved, although it is generally recognized that coming into the country illegally would make it difficult to do. What immigration loophole allowed this?
Brazilian entrepreneurs who are most successful graduate from doing the cleaning themselves, having crews employed to do that. When the business grows, they offer ?starter? routes to beginners, Often these are family members from Brazil who may have come to the country the same way De Sales did. Ms. De Sales employs only four women. They receive a flat fee of $20 per house, leaving perhaps as much as $50 for De Sales? profit for an average job. Because they are treated as subcontractors, they are responsible for paying taxes on the money they earn. De Sales requires her workers to produce Social Security numbers, but no law demands that she check their validity. Very possibly, the Social Security numbers are not valid, which means no money is going into this program. False Social Security numbers are showing up everywhere, as illegal aliens find that they must produce them to get work. The numbers and cards are even falsified, so if an employer does not check, the falsification goes undetected. The story does not mention how the workers are paid; if by cash there is no way of knowing if taxes are paid, and they very often are not, thereby robbing the various governments of the means to supply benefits to people, such as De Sales? three children, who are probably being educated in a tax-supported school.
Critics of the growing Brazilian population have pointed out that educating immigrants (illegal?) costs the town $10,000 per student per year, and many students? parents work for cash and may not pay taxes. ??They?ve made Framingham an outlaw town?, says Joseph Rizoli, a school-bus driver.? He is the founder of an anti-illegal immigration group called Concerned Citizens and Friends of Illegal Immigration Law Enforcement. His group protests, carrying signs, some in Portuguese, saying, ?It?s illegal to hire illegals? and ?Illegals Out!?
Those who use De Sales? services have a different view. ?Ethnicity and immigration status ?are not relevant?, concludes Joanne Aliber, a longtime customer of Ms. De Sales.? Housekeeping is just another aspect of the global economy for Aliber and her husband, who both work at high-technology jobs. Her philosophy is that ?you buy the best service?. Perhaps Aliber either suspects or knows that she is hiring illegal aliens, thereby ?aiding and abetting? them in hiring them, which is against the law, In fact, those who are here illegally have probably broken several U.S. laws, some of which are entering illegally, living here illegally, and working here illegally.
Along with Ms. De Sales? suspected flouting of our immigration laws, she offers a final insult to the women citizens of America: ?American women don?t know how to clean?.
Millman explores the cleaning business of one Maria Da Graca de Sales, a presumed Brazilian. She runs a business that provides a sort of franchise for cleaning ?routes?. With a gross of more than $100,000 annually, she has 70 clients, according to the story. However, other Brazilians start off as cleaners, with some saving enough money to purchase their own routes from people like Ms. De Sales, who has learned the business of creating routes to sell to others who are just starting out.
It is costly and complicated emigrating from Brazil, often by way of Mexico, to ultimately get the opportunity to sneak into the U.S., thereby insuring that only the somewhat well-off are able to make that difficult journey. However, to participate in even the most humbling income opportunities, Brazilians are represented by former dentists, school teachers, and journalists, according to Millman.
Although Ms. De Sales had a good job working for Brazil?s treasury department in the city of Governador Valadares, she dreamed of making enough money to put her three children through college. After entering the U.S. illegally through Mexico, she worked in Florida?s orange groves until she saved enough money to pool resources with her brother Gerardo to bring her teenage children from Brazil. Eventually, the three children were able to join their mother in Framingham. Their Uncle Gerardo also joined them. In the daytime the adults worked at restaurant jobs (which no American would do?). The children were kept busy after they enrolled in Framingham?s vocational high school (supported by taxpayers?). From 4:00 p.m. to midnight, a local Sheraton hotel employed all five as housekeepers (children working against child labor laws, perhaps?).
Ms. De Sales passed her U.S. citizenship exam in 2000 after applying for amnesty. The story does not tell how this was achieved, although it is generally recognized that coming into the country illegally would make it difficult to do. What immigration loophole allowed this?
Brazilian entrepreneurs who are most successful graduate from doing the cleaning themselves, having crews employed to do that. When the business grows, they offer ?starter? routes to beginners, Often these are family members from Brazil who may have come to the country the same way De Sales did. Ms. De Sales employs only four women. They receive a flat fee of $20 per house, leaving perhaps as much as $50 for De Sales? profit for an average job. Because they are treated as subcontractors, they are responsible for paying taxes on the money they earn. De Sales requires her workers to produce Social Security numbers, but no law demands that she check their validity. Very possibly, the Social Security numbers are not valid, which means no money is going into this program. False Social Security numbers are showing up everywhere, as illegal aliens find that they must produce them to get work. The numbers and cards are even falsified, so if an employer does not check, the falsification goes undetected. The story does not mention how the workers are paid; if by cash there is no way of knowing if taxes are paid, and they very often are not, thereby robbing the various governments of the means to supply benefits to people, such as De Sales? three children, who are probably being educated in a tax-supported school.
Critics of the growing Brazilian population have pointed out that educating immigrants (illegal?) costs the town $10,000 per student per year, and many students? parents work for cash and may not pay taxes. ??They?ve made Framingham an outlaw town?, says Joseph Rizoli, a school-bus driver.? He is the founder of an anti-illegal immigration group called Concerned Citizens and Friends of Illegal Immigration Law Enforcement. His group protests, carrying signs, some in Portuguese, saying, ?It?s illegal to hire illegals? and ?Illegals Out!?
Those who use De Sales? services have a different view. ?Ethnicity and immigration status ?are not relevant?, concludes Joanne Aliber, a longtime customer of Ms. De Sales.? Housekeeping is just another aspect of the global economy for Aliber and her husband, who both work at high-technology jobs. Her philosophy is that ?you buy the best service?. Perhaps Aliber either suspects or knows that she is hiring illegal aliens, thereby ?aiding and abetting? them in hiring them, which is against the law, In fact, those who are here illegally have probably broken several U.S. laws, some of which are entering illegally, living here illegally, and working here illegally.
Along with Ms. De Sales? suspected flouting of our immigration laws, she offers a final insult to the women citizens of America: ?American women don?t know how to clean?.
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