“It’s a ridiculous fantasy that somehow you can deport the immigrants that are doing the work of this country and not blow up this economy,” said Ted Pappageorge, head of the Culinary Workers Union Local 226, which represents 60,000 hotel and hospitality workers in Las Vegas at hotels, restaurants and casinos.
The group represents a vastly diverse membership with immigrants from some 170 countries. Pappageorge noted that recent rapid-fire policy changes, such as revoking Temporary Protected Status for migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, quickly turned “legal” workers into “illegal ones.”