Lou Dobbs' Undocumented Workers

Lou Dobbs made a big name for himself on CNN with his nightly rants against illegal immigration and companies that hire undocumented workers, but it turns out he’s not so opposed to the practice in his own home. The Nation investigated Dobbs for a year and found that the former TV anchor has long relied on such workers to take care of his multimillion-dollar estates as well as the horses he keeps for his daughter, Hillary, a competitive show jumper. More than half the workers in the horse industry are illegal immigrants, and they make up about 28 percent of landscaping workers. Each November, all five of Dobb’s show-jumping horses are shipped to Florida, and the workers tag along. Undocumented Mexican immigrant Marco Salinas worked in Dobbs’ stables for two years. Pedro Gomez, also illegal, has worked for Dobbs in Vermont and Florida. So has Marco Esperanza, another Mexican worker. Rodrigo Ortega, who’s worked in America 14 years, tends to Dobbs’ garden. The workers report long hours, low wages, and no overtime pay.