MUSINGS OF A CEO

A few months ago CNN Money called.  They asked to do a story about the impact of n and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid we suffered over five years ago.  How could I refuse?  The new Trump administration had made immigration enforcement one of its main planks.  We had an obligation to show what that meant for business. Thanks to what ICE calls an “audit” we lost 10% of our workforce. Most of them had 15 years or more experience with us, so out the door went some of our most accomplished operators and technicians.  We’ve never really recovered.  New employees, though good, don’t replace the knowledge we lost.  Plus as we expanded, that talent wasn’t here to run our new machines.

But CNN Money went further.  They told the story of an employee caught up in the mess.  They found one of our best, Miguel Gonzales, a technician who had logged over 20 years with us.  Miguel made a radical decision when he lost his job. Sick of hiding in the United States, constantly worried a knock on his door would come one night, he returned to Mexico.    He, his wife and three children — none of the kids had ever lived there — up and left.  His move profoundly impacted his family.  CNN Money tells that story with feeling that puts a human face on our country’s broken and arcane immigration system.

The article comes in three parts:  Emerald Packaging’s story, then Miguel’s, then the impact on the children told through one of his daughters.  If nothing else watch the video that details the family’s story. It’s deeply moving.

Click on the link below.  It’ll take you into the story.  This isn’t alt-news.  The story’s real, true, and cries out for answers.

http://money.cnn.com/news/undocumented/#undocumented