Imigration Raids Target Meat Processing Plants, ICE Agents Dressed in Riot Gear
by Pamela LeaveyICE agents, some of whom were dressed in riot gear locked down 6 beef- and pork-processing plants early in the morning today. They segregated the workers into “groups of citizens and non-citizens after questioning.” And then, some of the illegal workers “were bused to detention facilities hours away, labor officials said.” The workers we arrested on “the uncommon charge of identity theft.” For this they needed riot gear?
“The crackdown,” the WaPo reports “was another step in the federal government’s campaign against illegal immigration, and like some recent raids it targeted job sites, the magnet drawing many of the nearly 12 million illegal immigrants.” However, the raids and arrests were “unusual for several reasons.”
U.S. authorities cast the 11-month investigation as an attack on identity theft, not on typical immigration violations. Swift officials were not charged, despite recent administration vows to get tough on companies as well as workers.
Senator Ted Kennedy issued the following statement today, following the reports that ICE officers dressed in riot gear, entered Swift & Company plants and herded all workers together at gun point, violating their legal rights:
“I am deeply disturbed by the reports I have received today about the actions taken by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to apprehend individuals and cart them away for processing without any opportunity to assert their rights or contact their families and attorneys. These men and women are simply workers and not terrorists or dangerous criminals and they should not be treated as such. No one denies the need for additional enforcement at the border and at US worksites. We support efforts by ICE officials to enforce our immigration laws, but do not condone enforcement efforts that mistreat workers and violate their legal rights.
Comprehensive immigration reform is good for our economy and our security, and it’s consistent with our values and our heritage as a nation of immigrants. Today’s enforcement action is the most recent reminder that our immigration system is irreparably broken and needs to be urgently fixed.”
The raids took place in meat processing plants in Greeley, Co; Grand Island, Neb.; Cactus, Tex.; Hyrum, Utah; Marshalltown, Iowa; and Worthington, Minn.
Jeralyn has more on TalkLeft.
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This is BS………….They need to grab the CEO’s of this COMPANY and cart them off to a cell……as a warning to others.
I’ve been saying for years that the way to slow down illigal immigration is to crack down on the employers, not the employees. If the illegal jobs dry up that would put a major dent in illegal immigration IMHO.
I don’t believe that going after CEO’s of any company would work. Most of the people that get those jobs have an ID and other form of stolen identification. My identity was stolen. Since 96′ I have had problems with the IRS, various law agencies and I once had my license held for 6 months after I renewed it. The Department of motor vehicles decided that it wasn’t a great idea to question the person that had got an ID a did not look like me at all! So when I went to renew my license, they stopped me! Not the other guy! I believe it is some employees at the Department of Motor Vehicles who do not thoroughly check. That is where an ID originates!