I'm in complete agreement with you. I have no sympathy for those who hire illegals and get caught, but as you say, are we supposed to be responsible for checking out the status of the employees of a restaurant?
As a consumer should I stop buying chicken in the supermarket because many growers use illegals to catch the birds?
The newspeople said, "Well, he should have known. They were speaking Spanish." Okay. Does that mean that every time we are greeted by a Spanish speaking worker at a fast food restaurant, or anyplace else, that we're supposed to ask about their immigration status?
The fact is, even employers are between a rock and a hard place. The huge majority of these people present phony documents. The employer could verify social security numbers every time they got an Hispanic applicant, but then they'd be sued for discrimination under Title VII.
Sheesh.
After May 1st of this year I went to the trouble to find out that most of the employees at my favorite Mexican restaurant were largely illegals from Jalisco. ICE refused to do anything.
I miss the #23 lunch special, but haven't been back since.