Advice on transporting your illegal-alien nanny

Last week, The Brooklyn Paper stirred a sleeper of an issue by reporting that most child care positions in tony, uber-liberal Park Slope were being filled with off-the-books employees, many of them — presumably — illegal aliens.

Today, Brooklyn’s Jewish Press (no Weblink to story) warns its readers of “the risk of traveling with an undocumented nanny on Pesach [Passover].”

Immigration attorney Michael J. Wildes says right at the top of his Jewish Press op-ed that while he doesn’t “condone the hiring of unauthoried workers,” he does understand “the difficulties of finding experienced childcare.”

Wiles cautions, however, that “even if you’re not planning on running for political office, there are potentially serious consequences for knowingly hiring undocumented workers.

“Your need for a clean house [will] not be a viable defense to a charge of knowingly transporting an illegal alien across state lines by plane or other conveyance. Further, your nanny or housekeeper will be subject to deportation if found to be working without proper documentation.”

Wiles continues:

Undocumented individuals should be wary as they pass through airports, bus terminals, train stations or other crowded areas were authorities may require documentation. …

If you do happen to employ an undocumented nanny or housekeeper, he or she should certainly not be part of your out-of-state vacation.

Some might question the propriety of a newspaper or an attorney advising people how to avoid detection of their illegalities. We’ve come to accept, however, that the attitude on this score is laxer in relation to some laws than with others. Each editor should deliberate before drawing a line.

Significantly, Wildes concludes:

I strongly support the contributions immigrants continue to make to our country, but until our system of immigration is reformed it is important to stay on the right side of the law.