October 6, 2006

Sensenbrenner Under Fire -- Does Congressman Profit From Undocumented Labor?

By ROBERTO LOVATO
New America Media, News Analysis

Editor's Note: A look at Congressman James Sensenbrenner's stock holdings show investments in companies alleged to benefit from the work of undocumented immigrants, as well as firms contracted to build new border security measures. Roberto Lovato is a New America Media writer based in New York.

MILWAUKEE, Wis.--When President Bush signs into law a bill authorizing the construction of a 700-mile wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, one man stands to reap more than just political profit. Republican Congressman James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, critics say, is also reaping financial profits from the very immigration policies he himself has championed.

Immigration rights advocates, the congressman's Democratic opponent and some constituents are pointing to Sensenbrenner's investments in companies they say are generating profits from the labor of undocumented immigrants. They also say that Sensenbrenner stands to benefit from investments in companies contracted by the federal government to provide services he has proposed as part of his immigration reform legislation -- such as building massive immigrant detention centers or providing surveillance systems to monitor immigrants near the border.

An analysis of companies identified in Sensenbrenner's 2005 financial disclosure forms reveals that the congressman has invested in companies that have reportedly hired or subcontracted with employers who hire undocumented workers.

Drawing especially strong criticism are the $86,500 in stocks Sensenbrenner holds in the construction and infrastructure colossus Halliburton. The Texas-based giant has been the subject of Senate hearings into its labor practices in the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina. National news reports (The Washington Post, Salon.com and others) and several panelists at Senate hearings have stated that Halliburton used subcontractors hiring hundreds, perhaps thousands of undocumented workers as part of no-bid federal contracts to clean up Belle Chasse Naval base and other military facilities in the devastated region. Halliburton has also secured a $385 million Department of Homeland Security contract to build gigantic immigrant detention centers near the U.S.-Mexico border and stands to secure further contracts from proposals to reopen closed military bases to house deportees and detainees.

Halliburton has consistently denied charges that it used undocumented labor in its Gulf Coast work.

Halliburton has also been mentioned as one of the main contractors to build increased security infrastructure, security roads and improved employment verification systems at ports of entry.

According to Sensenbrenner's own House filings and the Congressional Record, he owns more than $563,536 in General Electric stocks. GE's Security Unit has been a Pentagon subcontractor, providing video surveillance and other electronic security systems at the border. The company contributed to Sensenbrenner through its employee PAC, according to the filings.

Also according to the congressman's filings, Boeing, which recently secured a $2.5 billion contract order to install sensors, radar and cameras along the U.S. borders, is among the top contributors to Sensenbrenner's PAC.

In Sensenbrenner's House filings this year he listed his net worth in 2005 as more than $10 million, with just under $1 million in stock investments in Kimberly-Clark, maker of tissues and personal care products.

The multibillion dollar federal contracts and proposals to build the physical and virtual walls at the border -- partly funded under a new Homeland Security bill signed by President Bush on Oct. 4 -- were first proposed in Sensenbrenner's now historic immigration bill, HR 4437.

In his home district, Sensenbrenner, like other elected officials, is encountering charges of a conflict of interest between his investments and his legislative activities. At a recent town hall held in Thiensville, Wis., constituent Lester Schultz asked the congressman about the "moral and ethical" implications of investing in companies like Halliburton.

Sensenbrenner said the investments in question were "bequeathed to me before I began my public service." When pressed he insisted that his portfolio didn't affect his votes. "We don't believe it," some audience members responded.

Asked about Schultz's and others' criticisms of the congressman's investments in companies hiring undocumented workers and benefiting from immigration policies, Sensenbrenner spokesperson Jeff Lungren said, "I'm unaware of these complaints."

Sensenbrenner's HR 4437 calls for "systematic surveillance of the international land and maritime borders of the United States through more effective use of personnel and technology, such as unmanned aerial vehicles, ground-based sensors, satellites, radar coverage, and cameras."

Sensenbrenner's Democratic opponent in the upcoming Congressional race in Wisconsin's fifth district, Bryan Kennedy, has publicly asked Sensenbrenner to divest himself of Halliburton and other companies he believes benefit by hiring undocumented workers.

"Sensenbrenner has been telling us that it is un-American for business
owners to hire illegal immigrants," Kennedy said in an interview. "Now that we find him profiting off the backs of these immigrants, he should put his money where his mouth is and divest himself from any company that is using undocumented workers to earn a higher profit."

Sensenbrenner has criticized companies that profit from exploitative working conditions that, he recently said, make it "cheaper to hire an illegal alien than a citizen or a legal alien who is present in this country with a green card."

Other investments raising flags in Milwaukee include the $44,179 in shares Sensenbrenner holds in Darden Restaurants Inc. Darden operates chains like The Olive Garden and Red Lobster. A cook at a Red Lobster restaurant in a Milwaukee suburb was unaware that he was working for a company that made the congressman who proposed "el Muro" (the wall) richer. "I don't have papers and had to cross the border from Mexico," said the cook, who did not give his name for fear of deportation. "Is he schizophrenic? Does he like our work and hate us?"

Managers at a Red Lobster in suburban Milwaukee interviewed by this reporter refused to comment on the restaurant's possible use of undocumented labor. Darden Restaurants Inc. did not return requests for comment.

After finishing his shrimp scampi at the same restaurant, Sensenbrenner constituent Jim Rehtman defended the congressman. Rehtman was joined by his nephew, John, a tattooed trucker who stood in the restaurant lobby wearing a T-shirt with a large American flag that read "Welcome to America...NOW LEARN ENGLISH."

"I support what he's doing to try to stop those illegals," said Rehtman, a 73-year-old retired welder.

Asked how he felt about the fact that his food may have been prepared by one of the undocumented workers interviewed for this story, a cook in the back kitchen, Rehtman said, "I don't like it. Not one bit. They shouldn't be back there. That's why we need to change the laws." When told that Sensenbrenner, who recently referred to employers of the undocumented as "21st-century slave masters," was also an investor in the company that owned Red Lobster, Rehtman shook his head.

"Car salesmen and politicians, they both..." He then stopped short. "I don't want to insult car salesmen that way."