http://www.koin.com/Global/story.asp?S=6666868

PORTLAND - Immigration agents appear to be shifting the focus of their raids to illegal immigrants on the job instead of those who have committed other crimes.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said this week's raid in Portland, in which most of the 167 arrested were line workers, represents the new approach.

Arrests of workers solely for being in the United States illegally went from 445 in fiscal 2003 to 3,667 during the fiscal year ending last Sept. 30 and this year's numbers are expected to be even higher.

Some immigration attorneys accuse the Bush administration of staging the raids to push Congress into changing the system.

But immigration enforcement spokesman Marc Raimondi said the agency will pursue the managers who hire illegal immigrants, the criminals among the foreigners and ordinary undocumented workers.

He says when the intent is to arrest managers, it is impossible to ignore other immigration violations.