Thread: Another Swift raid

Nineteen people were arrested at Swift & Co. meatpacking plants around the country as part of a sweep involving illegal immigrant workers at the plants, according to a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Raids were conducted Tuesday and Wednesday in Iowa, Nebraska and Colorado.

Officials with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union said that agents did not appear to use the "same level of intimidation and overkill" as they did in December raids in six cities that resulted in more than 1,200 immigrant workers being arrested.

Dan Hoppes, president of the local United Food and Commercial Workers Union in Grand Island, Neb., said immigration officials came to the plants with five warrants but only three of the workers were present.

Hoppes characterized the operation as far less aggressive than the raids in December that resulted in 261 arrests at the plant.

"It was done the right way this time," Hoppes said. "Not like last time, for crying out loud."

In Iowa, a union representative and human resources worker were arrested at the Swift meatpacking plant in Marshalltown on charges of bringing in and harboring illegal immigrants, said Richard Rocha, a spokesman with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The arrests were part of the ongoing investigation into identity theft and illegal employment, Rocha said.

The U.S. attorney's office said two other people in Iowa were charged with immigration and identity theft-related charges and were being sought. No other information on those individuals was released.

Three other people at the plant were detained to determine if they are in the country legally, the U.S. attorney's office said.

Dave Minshall, spokesman for the Food and Commercial Workers union Local No. 7 in Greeley, Colo., said Tuesday that agents had at least 40 arrest warrants for suspects in Greeley; Cactus, Texas; Marshalltown, Iowa; and Worthington, Minn.

In the December raids, no charges were filed against Swift, a Greeley-based company that bills itself as the world's second-largest beef and pork processor.

"It was done the right way this time," Hoppes said. "Not like last time, for crying out loud."

That's definitely a matter of opinion! This time ICE didn't arrest anyone they didn't have a warrant for, which means a bunch of illegals probably received a free-pass. The backsliding on enforcement has already started folks!

Furthermore, it's also obvious to anyone with half a brain that ICE has zero interest in holding employers responsible for knowingly hiring illegals. If there were illegals working at the plant, the employer that hired them should have also been arrested because he or she definitely didn't learn from the first raid. Oops, sorry, the only raid - this does not classify as a raid or sweep.

I wonder if they crossed checked all the ID's?? Me think NOT....

Here is the link to the story above and moving to the news section.
http://www.wctrib.com/ap/index.cfm?page ... eck_return