Thread: Editorial: Immigration raid reflects our broken worker polic

Editorial: Immigration raid reflects our broken worker policy

An Iowa plant shuts down as officials arrest more than 300 employees.

Web Posted: 05/16/2008 05:40 PM CDT

San Antonio Express-News

The recent raid of a kosher meat plant in Iowa dramatizes the folly of our broken immigration policy.

In the largest raid of a workplace this year, more than 300 workers were arrested, according to news reports.

A spokesperson with the U.S. Justice Department said more arrests are possible, leading to speculation that the plant managers may be next.

If there is an encouraging aspect to this episode, it is that the employers could be targeted as well; it is the workers, after all, who generally face the brunt of these roundups, while the people who hire them are allowed to act with impunity.

Beyond that, however, there is little to be encouraged about.

While entering the country without documents is against the law, the U.S. government allowed the undocumented to work here, without disruption, for years.

Then illegal immigration became a hot-button issue, fueled by pundits and politicians alike, and the roundups started.

The raid of AgriProcessors, the plant in Postville, Iowa, reflects the negative impact of the crackdown on undocumented workers, who boost the economy through their labor.

The company shut down temporarily — a shutdown with broad ramifications because the plant provides 60 percent of the kosher meat and 40 percent of the kosher poultry throughout the nation, according to the New York Times.

“It's absolutely devastating to the local economy,â€

The only reform we need is to deport all uneducated, illiterate illegal aliens and replace them with LEGAL immigrants who will contribute to our economy, not RAPE it!

Actaully no reform is needed. What is needed is to enforce the laws! Period. What is so hard to understand?

Do you suppose this is why the ADL came out in favor of an amnesty for illegal aliens. They are just trying to put food on their tables?

miguelina wrote:

The only reform we need is to deport all uneducated, illiterate illegal aliens and replace them with LEGAL immigrants who will contribute to our economy, not RAPE it!

Personally, I don't think we need to replace them with anyone. We have plenty of legal immigrants (more than enough IMHO) already entering our country.