No Illegal Aliens Can Work at New Bedford Water Park [OPINION]

A water park in New Bedford has yet to open because of errors and oversights. However, the City has forbidden illegal aliens from working there.

Has President Trump bent the government of New Bedford towards his view? The City is enforcing laws against illegal aliens and ignoring the laws on the environment. Have the Koch Brothers and the libertarian Cato Institute taken over the city of New Bedford?

The City has developed a public-private partnership with the Texas-based company Altitude H2O to open a summer season water park. As I discussed in my last column on the South End water park, I am in possession of hundreds of pages of documents from the City on the project.

The floating water park is currently bobbing in the ocean off of East Beach, but it isn't open yet and therefore not generating any revenue for the City or the company that has invested in the city. Mary Rapoza, the current director of the Parks Department, has admitted that she didn't think the water park needed to be reviewed by the city's Conservation Commission. She was wrong and that is at one of the reasons the water park couldn't open for the long Independence Day weekend and still sits idle.

But the contract between the City and Altitude H2O does make it clear that illegal aliens will not be allowed to work at the water park. The City didn't think they needed to discuss the water-based project with the Conservation Commission, but they did know that they had to ban illegal aliens from the project as laborers.

I think the City and Altitude H2O were correct in banning illegal aliens from the jobs at the park.

"Attachment D" in the contract states "the Proposer shall not knowingly use undocumented workers in connection with the performance of any contract with the City of New Bedford."

This is an important detail in the contract and it is proper. However, it also calls into question how the City could include this unlikely situation in the contract while neglecting to ask its own Conservation Commission about the project that is located in the water.

Chris McCarthy is the host of The Chris McCarthy Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon. Contact him at chris.mccarthy@townsquaremedia.com and follow him on Twitter @Chris_topher_Mc. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.