Thread: TX: 17 more workers plead guilty in Swift arrests in Cactus

17 more workers plead guilty in Swift arrests in Cactus

AMARILLO, Texas Seventeen more now-former workers arrested in an illegal immigration raid at the Swift meatpacking plant in Cactus have pleaded guilty.

Prosecutors say the men and women entered pleas in federal court in Amarillo this week.

The charges stem from a December raid conducted in an investigation into the use of Social Security numbers by illegal immigrants to gain employment.

Sentencing dates have not been set.

Nineteen other now-ex-workers previously entered pleas.

Seventeen other related case are pending.

All 53 people were indicted in January.

As for this week's cases:

-- Three men pleaded guilty to charges of false representation of a Social Security number.

Each faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a 250-thousand dollar fine.

-- Thirteen other defendants each pleaded guilty to one count of fraud in connection with an immigration document.

Each faces a maximum sentence of ten years in prison and a 250-thousand dollar fine.

-- Another man pleaded guilty to unlawful entry by an illegal alien, a misdemeanor. He faces a penalty of six months in prison and a five-thousand dollar fine.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.



http://www.kxan.com/Global/story.asp?S=6288655

It would be best to skip the prison sentences---it costs taxpayers too much---but I am wholeheartedly for fines, and here is why;

If the courts were to insist on collection of fines, and agree to deferred adjudication (that is, the offender is punished by having to serve the whole term of his sentence if he/she reoffends by illegally entering the US again), and further agree to immediate and unconditional deportation of the offender, a straightforward message would be sent!

There need to be consequences to the arrest as an Illegal. I would further add that any other type of additional charge (drug dealing/use, weapons, violence, theft, DUI, etc.etc.) that is not a white collar or administrative violation, makes the Illegal subject to serving his/her full term and fine without the ability of deferred adjudication.