Witless Over Whitman: The Meg Whitman Maid Story Falls To Pieces

The San Francisco Chronicle is a typical liberal newspaper in one of the most liberal cities in the US. Immigration attorneys, as a group, tend to be leftist in their politics. So what do you suppose happened when the Chron called a bunch of immigration attorneys to ask if Meg Whitman had broken the law?

Whether or not Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman received a letter from the Social Security Administration saying her former housekeeper's false documents did not match its records, Whitman did not act unlawfully by keeping the housekeeper employed, immigration lawyers said Thursday.

In fact, had she gone ahead and fired Nicandra Diaz Santillan based on such a letter, she would have exposed herself to potential anti-discrimination violations, lawyers said.

Whitman says she wasn't aware of receiving a "no-match" letter.

Lawyers said an employer's obligation upon receiving a no-match letter from the Social Security Administration is to check their own records for typographical or other errors, inform the employee that the records do not match and tell the employee to correct them.

"There is no additional legal obligation for an employer to follow up or respond to SSA with new information," said Gening Liao, a labor and employment attorney at the National Immigration Law Center in Los Angeles, which defends immigrants.

Liao added that it is "very important that the employer does not take adverse action against the employee" merely based on a letter from Social Security.

I'm sure it kills Liao to have to say that, but that's the legal situation that immigration rights advocates have helped create.

That's really the problem with this October Surprise: Whitman hasn't done anything wrong, except maybe that she made Nicki Diaz cry. In fact, Whitman's case is an example of how horribly the politics of immigration has screwed up America's immigration laws.

I keep hearing that this story will hurt because Latino voters will be turned off by Whitman's treatment of her housekeeper. Could be, but I don't see how it could hurt within the illegal immigrant community since they're not *supposed* to be voting in the first place. As for eligible Hispanic voters, Democrats appear to be hoping to whip up a combination of class resentment, anti-white bias, and soap opera tears to cause the "community" to turn decisively against Whitman. Just what you would expect from the party of the "scary smart" Jerry Brown.