Bakery Hires Illegal Aliens, Fears for its Buns

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently raided the Cloverhill Bakery in Chicago and removed 800 illegal alien workers.

Cloverhill is owned by Swiss conglomerate Aryzta AG. It makes buns for McDonald’s hamburgers. Apparently, Aryzta likes the business it gets from the iconic American fast-food chain. But it doesn’t seem to like hiring American workers. They probably cost too much. So Aryzta just hires illegal aliens who are likely to work for lower wages and file fewer complaints about working conditions or on-the-job injuries.

Employing illegal aliens – or anyone else who is not authorized to work in the U.S. –  is a violation of federal law. Hiring hundreds of them can result in massive fines and other civil penalties. But reading the mainstream media’s coverage of this story, you’d think that Aryzta merely broke some foolish regulation specifying what type of napkins must be provided in the employee lunch room.

According to Bloomberg, “The raid on workers at Cloverhill is one of the biggest U.S. employment headaches reported by a European company so far as President Donald Trump has made curbing undocumented immigration a centerpiece of his presidency.”

The Belleville News Democrat notes that Aryzta is struggling, “… to find enough workers and will have to increase its wages….

And EaterChicago whined that, “… when a large European conglomerate reports that the new immigration policy has negative effects on its bottom line, perhaps it’s time to reevaluate priorities.”

Actually, President Trump seems to have his priorities in order. He has put the interests of American workers first. That’s why he directed ICE to increase its worksite enforcement activities.

If Aryzta were baking its bun in its home country of Switzerland, instead of Chicago, the company wouldn’t be able to increase its profits by exploiting illegal alien labor:

• Under Swiss law, anyone who is not a citizen must have a work permit.
• Authorization to work is only granted to senior managers and specialists with a valid visa.
• There is a cap on the number of work permits that may be issued.
• And Swiss employers who hire foreign nationals without work authorization are subject to imprisonment of up to one year – as are the unauthorized employees.

So, the Trump administration seems to be on the right track. And if Aryzta  continues to violate U.S. immigration law, ICE and the Department of Justice should run its buns out of town.