United States Attorney Carol Lam
U.S. Attorney's Office Southern District of California
Federal Office Building
880 Front Street, Room 6293
San Diego, California 92101-8893
Dear Ms. Lam:
In a recent criminal case that has some elements of irony, it seems that a company in charge of building a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border is being charged with hiring undocumented workers. You are quoted as saying that jail time is being sought in this case because of the “size of the company” and “the amount of fraud.” I am glad to hear that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency would not be so small as to seek harsher punishments for these defendants simply because of something so petty as public humiliation of their agency and blatant exposure of a failure in the basic fundamentals of the United States’ immigration enforcement strategies.
I hope that you at first gave these employers the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they had a plan all along to hold these undocumented workers up as an example and teach them a lesson. The company would string the workers along with promise of full pay upon completion of the project. Once the fence was almost done, they may have strategized to make sure the workers in question were on the “other” side of the fence. Then, like Montresor sealing up Fortunado in the vault in Poe’s “Cask of Amontillado,” they would wave to the workers over the fence as they welded it tight, admiring the impenetrable fence-ness of their fence.
Alas, I may be naive as to their intentions. But since this is unusually harsh punishment, maybe they will get decent treatment while behind bars. No strangers to hard work, they will undoubtedly seek employment and strive to move up in the ranks. They could quickly earn spots on the kitchen crew. Maybe even as guards.
Truly,
Liz Mann
