I'll bet DHS got an anonymous tip.
Posted on 12/13/2006 11:32:02 AM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - More than 1,200 people were arrested in meatpacking plants in six states during raids that federal officials said amounted to the largest-ever workplace crackdown on illegal immigration.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Wednesday the investigation uncovered a "disturbing front" in the war against illegal immigration, in which illegal immigrants are using the identities of U.S. citizens to obtain jobs.
"Violations of our immigration laws and privacy rights often go hand in hand," he said. "Enforcement actions like this one protect the privacy rights of innocent Americans while striking a blow against illegal immigration."
The raids at Swift & Co. plants across the country resulted in 1,282 arrests, including 1,217 on immigration charges and 65 on criminal charges such as identity theft. Chertoff said the investigation is continuing into several groups that may have sold identity documents to illegal immigrants.
The arrested workers were from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Peru, Laos, Sudan, Ethiopia and other countries.
During a raid Tuesday at the Swift plant in Greeley, Colo., a frustrated Tony Garcia watched as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents swarmed inside to arrest illegal immigrants. "We need help, we need answers," he said, questioning who would take care of the children whose parents were arrested.
The raids followed a 10-month investigation into illegal immigrants suspected of buying or stealing other people's identities to secure U.S. jobs. The scheme may have had hundreds victims, officials said.
Immigration officials last month informed Swift that it would remove unauthorized workers on Dec. 4, but Swift asked a federal judge to prevent agents from conducting the raid, arguing it would cause "substantial and irreparable injury" to its business.
The company estimated a raid would remove up to 40 percent of its 13,000 workers. Greeley-based Swift describes itself as the world's second-largest meat processor with sales of about $9 billion.
After a closed hearing, a judge on Thursday rejected Swift's request, clearing the way for Tuesday's raids at the plants in Greeley; Grand Island; Cactus, Texas; Hyrum, Utah; Marshalltown, Iowa; and Worthington, Minn.
The six plants represent all of Swift's domestic beef processing capacity and 77 percent of its pork processing capacity.
Advocates of stricter immigration control praised the raids and pointed out that they targeted people suspected of committing other crimes in addition to being in the U.S. illegally.
"I'm glad that ICE is enforcing our immigration laws in light of the illegal immigration crisis we face across the country," Sen. Wayne Allard (news, bio, voting record), R-Colo., said in a statement.
Others called the raids heavy-handed and criticized the effect on families.
"They are taking mothers and fathers, and we're really concerned about the children," said the Rev. Clarence Sandoval of St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic Church in Logan, Utah. "I'm getting calls from mothers saying they don't know where their husband was taken."
United Food and Commercial International Workers union spokeswoman Jill Cashen told the Post workers taken from the Worthington, Minn., plant were bused to South Dakota.
She said Tuesday that attorneys for the union would ask federal judges in all six states for injunctions to halt the raids.
Mexico's Foreign Relations Department also pledged to ensure that any Mexicans caught up in the raids have "their human rights fully respected, and are given all the necessary assistance, orientation and consular protection."
No charges were filed against Swift.
In a written statement, President and CEO Sam Rovit said the company has never knowingly hired illegal workers and does not condone the practice.
Swift uses a government pilot program to confirm whether Social Security numbers are valid. Company officials have raised questions about the program's ability to detect when two people are using the same number.
Immigration agents have also staged immigration raids at poultry plants in the South. In July 2005, nearly 120 people were arrested at an Arkadelphia, Ark., facility. Three months ago, agents raided a poultry plant in Stillmore, Ga., arresting a similar number who worked there or lived in surrounding counties and busing them to immigration courts in Atlanta, 189 miles away.
___
Associated Press Writer Kim Nguyen contributed to this story.
See post 44.
I'm sure the ones they caught yesterday are already loose in the streets and the busses for today got out of sight and let this batch go!These will go down the road,hire out as farm workers and spread more e-coli.
Not that I condone businesses who hire illegals...but from what I have heard these people arrested are also suspected of identity theft...the company can run ss# and the names match. I don't know the answer to all of this but deporting this lot is a good start..and jailing those who have stolen honest hard working american's identities, so they can milk the sacred cow...is also a good start.
They tipped them off. I read the article at http://www.alipac.us/
"Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Wednesday the investigation uncovered a "disturbing front" in the war against illegal immigration, in which illegal immigrants are using the identities of U.S. citizens to obtain jobs."
Someone please tell me that this joker is NOT really this dense!
Common sense is no longer found in appointees and politicians.
"Why wasn't Swift charged?"
That's the million dollar question. Smoke and Mirrors never do much damage. Maybe We should check out their political contributions.
I'll bet DHS got an anonymous tip.
That is beautiful! How many does it seat? Can it get the job done from Colorado, or does it have to be right at the border?
"That last statement is a laugher, how can they complain to the courts that these raids will hurt their business if they don't knowingly hire illegals? They complained about the raids because they know their workforce is made up in large part by illegals. The CEO and the rest of the leadership of Swift need to pay steep fines and spend time being Bubba's girlfriend in prision. Until the Govt makes an example of these traitors, this crap will keep on happening. Swift is lying through their teeth, and everyone knows it, but they will continue to be allowed to play this deadly game."
You're right on the money. The government sure made an example of Enron, why not these guys at Swift? Aren't they causing damage and pain and suffering to Americans by their deceptive business practices? How much money is lost to those people who had their identities stolen by these illegals? This just infuriates me!
No, unfortunately, following the law is never simple for some folks.
In this case it should be. All they have to do is produce a valid verifiable birth certificate. Same as your example of the underage kid at the liquor store.
Having kids born in the US while the parent is an illegal does not make them immune from deportation.
If you claim you were born in the US, you'd have to have a very good reason why you can't lay your hands on that type of documentation.
Does this mean it's official? There really is a war against illegal immigration?
The judge could ask them if they want to go home the easy way or the hard way.
And it's all at our expense. What a racket! I've often thought that if I just switched to Mexican citizenship and slipped across the Rio Grande, I'd finally be a first class US citizen and live on easy street forever. In fact, if I could prove that I was here illegally, the President himself might even take my personal calls and write glowing letters of recommendation for me.
lol, she can go home with them.
Well, if there is a "war on illegal immigration" it has been just about as effective as the "war on drugs".
Board of Swift & Co.
Joe Colonnetta, a director of Swift Operating:
http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?st=TX&last=colonnetta
George Gillett Jr., Chmn. of Board:
http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?st=CO&last=Gillett&first=George
Edward Herring, a director of Swift Operations:
http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?st=TX&last=Herring&first=Edward
Just a few....the Pres/CEO Sam Rovit had only a $300 donation to something called the "Swift & Company Political Action Committee."
Funny you should mention Enron. Swift is owned by a company that has extensive interest in (among other things) energy.
If the feds were serious about this, raids would be conducted so often that they would no longer be front page news. Targets would be the largest employers of illegals in food processing, construction and other industries. Fines would be just this side of extreme and executive imprisonments would be lengthy and commonplace.
In sum, we would eventually get our country back but at the price of short- to intermediate-range economic downturn and loss of investor confidence. It would take statesmen to make such a choice and unfortuntely we don't have any, just short-sighted, main chance politicians.
Solutions to all this will have to come from "we, the people," not government.
according to what I have come across, there are 30 million of them here, the 1200, or so is a drop in the bucket.
I will believe progress is being made when they stop making home loans and so forth to these folks, and when the welfare money is in surplus instead of being drained constantly.
dport hector angel too.
it was an issue of identity theft, and not illegal employment, so the swift co, gets off swift free.
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