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Rage over raid on illegals
Biggest bust ever fails to satisfy either side

December 14, 2006
BY JENNIFER TALHELM
WASHINGTON -- Federal officials said Wednesday that the raids on meatpacking plants in six states uncovered a ''disturbing front'' in the battle against illegal immigration -- identity theft as a tool to obtain employment.

The raids against Swift & Co., a Greeley, Colo.-based meat processor, added up to the largest-ever workplace crackdown on illegal immigration, said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

Some 5 percent of the 1,282 arrests resulted in identity theft charges, and Chertoff said the number probably would rise as agents look into more workers' cases and into rings of vendors who steal and sell illegal documents.

''Violations of our immigration laws and privacy rights often go hand in hand,'' Chertoff said.

''Enforcement actions like this one protect the privacy rights of innocent Americans while striking a blow against illegal immigration.''

Observers on both sides of the immigration debate were somewhat skeptical, calling Chertoff's crackdown on identity theft a new refrain in an old song.

Just a cover for amnesty?
Advocates for more enforcement said they had little faith that the Bush administration would keep up the raids because the president supports a guest worker program and a path to citizenship for some of the roughly 12 million illegal immigrants in the country now.

''This is a little bit of enforcement to create a cover for amnesty,'' said Steven Camarota of the Center for Immigration Studies.

On the other side, immigrant rights groups said the raid terrorized thousands of workers and their families but did little to the employers or the people who sold the workers the documents.

''We've been doing raids for 20 years, and the immigration problem is soaring,'' said Frank Sharry of the National Immigration Forum. ''You can't restore the rule of law until you respond to the law of supply and demand.''

Reform died this year
Chertoff said the raids highlighted a need for the guest worker program, which would cut down on the demand for illegal documents.

An effort died in Congress this year to create a guest worker program and a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

Instead, Bush signed a bill this fall authorizing a 700-mile fence at the U.S.-Mexico border.