Thread: Hyrum raid: Congress is guilty of immigration crime

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_4853771

Hyrum raid: Congress is guilty of immigration crime
Tribune Editorial
Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated:12/16/2006 02:45:27 PM MST

"These are not victimless crimes."
Well, Michael Chertoff got that right. The secretary of Homeland Security was talking about the identity theft ring that he said was the big reason for raids by federal agents on six Swift meatpacking plants across the West, including one in Hyrum. Officers arrested 145 people in Utah. Presumably, all or nearly all were illegal immigrants.
Most Americans rightly fear identity theft and the other crimes that can flow from it - credit card and loan fraud, to name a couple.
False identities also can be used to obtain government services illicitly, which is a big reason for citizen outrage about illegal immigration.
But the victims don't stop there.
What about the illegal workers themselves, who are exploited by greedy employers who know that the workers will not complain about brutal working conditions or low wages? (Swift has not been charged with any crimes.)
What about the honest employers who have no way to verify whether their workers' documents are genuine?
What about the families that will be broken up when illegal immigrants are deported? What about the fear and uncertainty faced by the innocent children of illegal workers, many of them U.S. citizens?
What about the American workers who make less because illegal workers depress wages?
What about the illegal workers who pay Social Security taxes, but will never see any benefit from them?
So, yes, these are not victimless crimes.
But the biggest crime of all is that Congress has not faced up to the task of fixing the broken U.S. immigration system.
The United States needs to secure its borders. And, yes, it should not look the other way when people enter the country illegally. Without enforcement actions, like the one in Hyrum, the law is meaningless.
But the nation also needs a realistic system to allow more foreign-born people to work legally in this country, to obtain legal residence and citizenship, than do now. Some industries, particularly agriculture and hospitality, rely on the supply of immigrant labor, much of it illegal. That needs to be reformed so that the labor supply can meet the demand within the law.
Congress needs to suck it up, hammer out the tough compromises, and get the job done.
To do less is criminal.

Originally Posted by jean

What about the illegal workers themselves, who are exploited by greedy employers who know that the workers will not complain about brutal working conditions or low wages? (Swift has not been charged with any crimes.)

In my honest opinion I don't think anything will really change until this is made into a military issue. If the military were allowed to send a couple of MPs to a meat processing and trail the upper management in their daily duties alot of this would stop. Putting a couple of soldiers on the plant floor and bringing local plant managers to a military base for a day of questioning would help also. If a plant manager violates the law, he would be taken to a military base where he would be incarcerated for a week and given classes on the importance of obeying US law. He would be released only if he showed a willingness to obey the law and would be trailed at his job if there was something wrong with his attitude.

Originally Posted by jean

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_4853771


But the nation also needs a realistic system to allow more foreign-born people to work legally in this country, to obtain legal residence and citizenship, than do now. Some industries, particularly agriculture and hospitality, rely on the supply of immigrant labor, much of it illegal. That needs to be reformed so that the labor supply can meet the demand within the law.

No I disagree, what it needs is to get many Americans back to work. Including some Americans who make a career out of defrauding Welfare and SSI.

I completely disagree as well.

What we need to do is to slow down. Secure the damn border now! We don't need to do anything until we secure the border. We then need a moratorium on immigration until We the People can be satisfied that what we do have is necessary, honest and in the best interest of America. We have 100lbs of crap in a 5lb bag with it running out everywhichway and no earthly idea as to what is going on. It is 100% FUBAR!

Well, some could argue it is working as designed but either way it is one huge gigantic pile of crap!