Thread: ICE Hopes To Have Chilling Effect On Illegal Immigration By

ICE Hopes To Have Chilling Effect On Illegal Immigration By Targeting Identity Thieves
Posted on May 28th, 2008 by The Stiletto

In the largest workplace raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to date, 389 workers were detained at the Agriprocessors Inc. meat processing plant in Postville, IA, on May 12th, and during the following week 297 of them were tried on - and pled guilty to - charges of document fraud. Twenty-seven immigrants received probation and the rest were sentenced to five months in prison, after which they will be deported.

Despite the alacrity of the proceedings and the predictable protests by criminal defense lawyers and immigration activists, all the legal niceties had been observed: the forged documented aliens had court-appointed defense lawyers and Spanish interpreters, reports The New York Times:

The prosecutions … signal a sharp escalation in the Bush administration’s crackdown on illegal workers … Until now, unauthorized workers have generally been detained by immigration officials for civil violations and rapidly deported. …

The illegal immigrants … entered guilty pleas through a Spanish interpreter, admitting they had taken jobs using fraudulent Social Security cards or immigration documents. Moments later, they moved to another courtroom for sentencing.

The large number of criminal cases was remarkable because immigration violations generally fall under civil statutes. Until now, relatively few immigrants caught in raids have been charged with federal crimes like identity theft or document fraud. …

Defense lawyers, who were appointed by the court, said most of the immigrants were ready to accept the plea deals because of the hard bargain driven by the prosecutors.

If the immigrants did not plead guilty [they would have been tried] on felony identity theft charges that carry a mandatory two-year minimum jail sentence. In many cases, court documents show, the immigrants were working under real Social Security numbers or immigration visas, known as green cards, that belonged to other people. …

No charges have been brought against managers or owners at Agriprocessors, but there were indications that prosecutors were also preparing a case against the company. In pleading guilty, immigrants had to agree to cooperate with any investigation. …

The workers said that supervisors and managers were well aware that the immigrants were working under false documents.

U.S. attorney for northern Iowa Matt M. Dummermuth, who oversaw the prosecutions, told The Times the operation an “astonishing success,â€

Even 905 persons is a drop in the bucket, Zeezil. The biggest boost would be if the Social Security no-match letters can go ahead without any further legal blockade. Anybody have any news on that? Last thing I heard was that DHS was holding open a public comment period--but I think that is now closed. I know they were still preparing thousands of notices but could not send them to employers until the injunction was lifted. But if businesses terminate illegal employees many of them may go into black market jobs, anyway. This country has had a huge black market of unofficial employment for decades, even without the IA population. I wonder how long this could all drag out. Until a new administration takes office in January?

Just like watching an old Western----is the Sheriff gonna make it before the bad guys can ride out of Dodge City?

In my opinion, since SS# are issued by a federal agency, the SSA, it should be a federal crime. Same with green cards.