Trump’s Pick for Labor Secretary: Pro-Immigration Fast Food CEO Andrew Puzder

Noam Scheiber and Maggie Haberman, reporting for the NYT:

President-elect Donald J. Trump is expected to name Andrew F. Puzder, chief executive of the company that operates the fast food outlets Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. and an outspoken critic of the worker protections enacted by the Obama administration, to be secretary of labor, people close to the transition said on Thursday.

Mr. Puzder has spent his career in the private sector and has opposed efforts to expand eligibility for overtime pay, while arguing that large minimum wage increases hurt small businesses and lead to job loss among low-skilled workers.

The Times report focuses on the obvious stuff: his opposition to increasing the minimum wage, regulations that protect workers, etc. No surprise.

But here’s the fun part, as noted on Twitter by David Frum:

Let’s absorb the magnitude of the Puzder appointment. Trump’s signature issue was immigration restriction. Number 1.

He slammed hard the Bush family in general and Jeb Bush in particular as weak and low energy on immigration.

The Labor Department enforces immigration law in the workplace — the key way that immigration laws are enforced.

And the person Trump names to head Labor? Perhaps the most outspoken advocate of Bush-style immigration policy in US business community!

Trump’s biggest issue throughout the entire campaign was anti-immigration. Keeping immigrants out, and throwing the millions of undocumented immigrants currently here out of the country. His labor secretary is pro-immigration and views undocumented immigrants as future employees for his fast food restaurants and deserving of sympathy, not scorn. He supported President Obama’s 2013 immigration reform bill — and the only part of it he didn’t like was the increase in border security.

Try to wrap your head around just how much disdain Trump has for his own supporters — the “build the wall” crowd.

★ Thursday, 8 December 2016