Thread: Political fallout from Swift raid

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Political fallout from Swift raid
written by: Adam Schrager 9NEWS Reporter
posted by: Jeffrey Wolf Web Producer



DENVER - The impact of this week's immigration raid on Swift & Company in Greeley will likely be felt in both Colorado's State Capitol and in the U.S. Capitol in Washington.

Additional Resources...
Suspects arrested in immigration raid appear in court
Businesses feel pressure after immigration raid
Company fired 400 workers in month leading up to raid
Details released on immigration raid
ICE officials serve warrants to processing plants
U.S. Senator Ken Salazar
U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo
Sen. Peter Groff
Senator-elect Dave Schultheis
The immigration raid at Swift could have national political implications. 9NEWS at 6 p.m. December 15, 2006. The immigration raid at Swift & Company may cause a great deal of political fallout in the Colorado Legislature. 9NEWS at 4 p.m. December 15, 2006. Watch the report by the report by Adam Schrager on the political fallout of the Swift raid in 16x9 format. December 15, 2006.

Leading lawmakers of both parties say the event proves the topic of immigration reform remains a vital issue.

"What I saw in Greeley this week was the symptom of a huge problem ... that is now defined by the chaos and the lawlessness that we have with our immigration laws in this country," said Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colorado).

Salazar says he has spoken with the new Democratic leaders in Congress over the last few days about the reality of addressing comprehensive reform when Congress reconvenes next month.

"I'm hopeful in the next three to six months, we'll have a legislative solution that will fix our borders," said Salazar. "We'll be able to enforce our laws here in this country and we'll deal with the reality of 12 million undocumented workers in America today."

Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colorado) says if that means a "guest worker/amnesty" plan, he doesn't believe there is enough support in Congress to pass such legislation. Tancredo agrees that the current situation is "bizarre, chaotic and really idiotic," but that changing the immigration laws to accommodate those who have already broken the immigration laws is misguided.

"We have not been enforcing the law inside the United States where events like (Swift) are rare and they should be quite common with the number of people who are here illegally," Tancredo said. "We are simultaneously not enforcing the security of the border."

"If you're going to get serious about (immigration reform), you have to get serious about two things simultaneously. Securing our border and going after people who are here illegally and their employers. Do those things together to make it work or it's just a constant revolving door," said Tancredo.

At the state level, lawmakers met in a special session this past summer to address the topic of illegal immigration. Supporters said they passed the toughest package of laws in the country, but the Swift raid showed the problem is still real in Colorado.

"We can't do as much as we could if we were the federal government by closing the borders, but there's a lot we can do here," said Senator-Elect Dave Schultheis (R-Colorado Springs). Schultheis plans to introduce legislation closing a loophole in Colorado identity theft laws which he says was exposed during the Swift raid. Schultheis says it's currently a felony to buy, make a fake ID or sell a fake ID. Using a fake ID to get a job is only a misdemeanor.

"We're going to tighten that down," he said.

Leading Democrats, who control the majority in both chambers of the State Legislature, say they are willing to listen to tightening up Colorado's identity theft laws. The state only last year became the second-to-last state in the country to make the crime a felony. However, its focus is on Colorado's employers who may see legislation requiring them to verify a state-issued piece of identification in addition to signing up for a program to verify citizenship.

"It's fair to ask employers to follow the law," said Sen. Peter Groff (D-Denver), who is the Senate President Pro Tem. "I don't think adding one more issue for them to track is going to be onerous and is going to shut down businesses."

"There may be some things that we can slap them on the wrist, but federally, they'd have to allow us to make monetary sanctions which I think would really drive employers to do the right thing," said Groff.

Both Congress and Colorado lawmakers return to work in the first two weeks of January.

I hope this shows everyone that when you break the law and enter our country illegally stealing jobs and among many other problems deflating wages ... then what happened with this raid of Swift ... is exactly what's supposed to happen under our laws to prevent this intrusion from foreign nationals into our country, our businesses, and our lives.

GET THE MESSAGE ILLEGALES!!

It's time to go home now, so start packing.