Globe: GOP Prez Hopeful Used Illegal Workers

Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s (R) presidential ambitions take a hit in The Boston Globe today:

Even as Romney travels the country, vowing to curb the flood of low-skilled illegal immigrants into the United States, some of those workers maintain his own yard, cutting grass, pruning shrubs, and mulching trees.

For “a decade,” the paper found, “the governor has used a landscaping company that relies heavily on workers like these, illegal Guatemalan immigrants, to maintain the grounds surrounding his pink Colonial house on Marsh Street in Belmont.”

Romney — who speaks frequently on immigration — never inquired about the workers’ status, the Globe reports, only offering up the occasional “buenos dias” to the toiling workers. There’s no direct evidence that Romney knew they were illegal.

Any comment, Mr. Romney?

Asked by a reporter yesterday about his use of Community Lawn Service with a Heart [the lawncare company], Romney, who was hosting the Republican Governors Association conference in Miami, said, “Aw, geez,” and walked away.

Several hours later, his spokesman, Eric Fehrnstrom, provided the Globe with a statement saying that the governor knows nothing about the immigration status of the landscaping workers, and that his dealings were with [Ricardo] Saenz [the owner of the company], who is a legal immigrant from Colombia.

Perhaps even worse is Saenz’s reaction to the Globe‘s inquiries:

Saenz said he met Romney through the Mormon Church and said Romney has used his company’s services for a decade. Saenz said Romney never asked him if his workers are legal immigrants.

“He doesn’t have to ask,” Saenz said. “I’m a company.”

Saenz asserted that all the workers he used were in the United States legally. Told by reporters that his employees said they were in this country illegally, Saenz responded: “What you’ve heard is not my problem.”