A federal raid on a meatpacking plant in Grand Island tears families apart.
I started writing this post, and came across this link from Kos:
So, let’s see what we have here: a meat-packing company with a history of skating immigration laws (and allegations of them having some sort of scheme to import illegal workers from Guatamala) skates out of this scot free thus far.
Meanwhile, a mere nine days away from Christmas, these kids get the present of their parents being seized and hauled away, unable to contact them to let them know they are okay — with no time to make arrangements for their children’s care.
And, in one case, a mother who was nursing her child is dragged off and cannot be located, while the child is left to deal with the consequences of being weaned against it’s will by governmental agents. […]
Family values party, my ass.
Federal immigration raids resulted in the arrest of 261 at the Swift meatpacking plant in Grand Island. If you hear the Department of Homeland Security tell it, it was not about immigration at all:
Officials of Homeland Security, including Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, said that about 1,282 persons were arrested nationwide as part of an ongoing worksite enforcement investigation into immigration violations and a “massive identity theft scheme that victimized a large numbers of U.S. citizens and lawful U.S. residents.”
But the numbers tell a different story:
Of the 1,282 illegal foreign workers apprehended, 1,217 were arrested on administrative immigration violations and 65 were charged with criminal violations related to identity theft or other violations, such as re-entry after deportation.
In Grand Island, only one worker was arrested initially on criminal charges. But the real cost came at the expense of families in Grand Island and other cities across the nation where these raids took place:
Alma Rawlings of Grand Island believes many children were separated from their parents as a result of Tuesday’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid on the Swift plant. […]
Rawlings said mothers and/or single parents — even if they did not have proper documents — were supposed to be released so they could return home to care for their children.But she said many mothers did not tell ICE authorities that they have children at home because they were afraid their children would be taken away from them.
As a result, many mothers were taken to Iowa for detention and many children are now staying with members of the extended family, Rawlings said.
In a separate interview on Wednesday, Audra Nava of Grand Island said she also has heard that many mothers did not tell ICE officials they had children at home because they were afraid of what might happen to their children.
Rawlings said many children who were separated from their parents are U.S. citizens because they were born in this country, Rawlings said.
Children, citizens of this country, are being separated from their parents. The raids took place on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, an important Hispanic holiday. The company itself, the company that hired all of these workers? They don’t get punished. It’s the families, the people who were just looking for an opportunity in this country, that are punished. Right before Christmas, children are separated from their parents.
You’ll forgive me for interjecting a bit of politics into the discussion. One of the few candidates in Nebraska who was making sense on immigration in the 2006 elections was Jim Esch. Ben Nelson was, unfortunately, pandering to a reactionary element within our state. Ricketts was changing his tune on immigration every week. Esch was the only one who acknowledged the complex realities of the debate, in stark contrast to his opponent, Lee Terry:
We need an efficient immigration system that not only makes us more secure, but also protects individuals fleeing persecution, respects the rights of all people, and acknowledges the social, economic, and cultural contributions of immigrants.
As Americans, nearly all of us are immigrants or the descendants of immigrants. Over time we have learned to live together and accept each other as fellow countrymen. Legal immigration is woven into the fabric of our country and is one of the many things that make America great. Americans should always welcome those who subscribe to the values of freedom, equality, and opportunity. The contentious issue concerning immigration focuses on legality.
Immigration policies need to be reformed and enforced. We have ignored this issue for the last 20 years, and now we are facing the consequences. Further criminalization and the building of walls will accomplish nothing. We must deal with the realities of the situation and fix our broken policies.
It’s unfortunate that the immigration policy in this country focuses on punishing the already exploited rather than those who exploit them. It’s troubling that this raid is what passes for “Homeland Security.” We absolutely have to address the heartless immigration policy in this country, and deal at once with those employers who exploit illegal immigrants without remorse or consequences. We cannot continue to make criminals out of our own neighbors. It’s simply wrong.
I just scanned your thoughts, but did you hold the parents responsible for their actions in any way?
Just caught your post after writing my own on somewhat the same topic. Nice work, Dave. Except I really don’t think that Ben Nelson was just “pandering” on immigration. All signs point to the more likely possibility that he just really doesn’t “get it.”
I hope every Democrat who gives a damn works on getting through to Nelson this spring (and holding Lee Terry’s feet to the fire). There is so much work to be done; we can’t afford NOT to be heard.
My Mom was substitute teaching at a middle school in Grand Island the day of the raid. They told all the kids whose parents work at Swift to go to the gymnasium and then told them about it all at once. The consolation?
“If there is no one at your house when you get home from school, call 911.”
How is that for a crappy afternoon?
I read somewhere on the internets of ours that there’s some evidence that the Raids were politically timed, hoping to force immigration to be one of the first topics of the new congress and derail the 100 Hour Plan.
If so, that would be par for the course w/ this administration (see: homeland security warnings, capturing #2 Al Quida Guy every month, etc). I appreciate the “illegal immigrants shouldn’t be here: because they’re illegal” side of the debate. But I really hope that some thought is given to a) the children, who are Americans just like myself, and b) the families who, while not entirely legal, are obviously just trying to do the best for themselves.
These “illegals” arrested this week, I’d like to point out, are nothing like the right-wing boogy monster version of illegals that we hear about on talk radio and Fox News. These were all men and women working full time jobs, jobs white workers in Grand Island didn’t want, paying their taxes and their social security (even though, as illegal immigrants, they weren’t able to file for deductions or ever receive social security, medicare, etc). And the worst crimes any of them are being arrested for are a) being in america and b) 6 of them payed someone to forge documents to make it easier to be in america.
Do I think that illegal immigrants by and large should be granted amnesty w/ out any further debate? Probably not.
But is there a whole lot more to the immigration issue than the right wing wants to debate? Absolutely.
Great post Dave.
I have to disagree with the idea of “cracking down on employers.” If, as conservatives claim, illegal immigrants are coming to America to consume public resources, and make use of services such as welfare and government schools, why target the ones who actually are working? It makes little sense to attack them in their productive and peaceful work, when the real problem is the state’s welfare programs. Of course, it’s much more politically popular to demonize illegal immigrants than to get rid of the forced expropriation and redistribution of wealth that causes some illegal immigrants to come for the wrong reasons. Anyways, the difference between a legal and an illegal immigrant is the same as between a legal and illegal drug - it’s a completely arbitrary distinction.
It’s unfortunate that the debate is still focused on demonizing human beings who are just trying to make a living. That said, there’s a very real distinction here in that illegal immigrants do not have any protection under the law. They are subject to unfair labor practices and cannot report their employers for fear of losing their job, or worse, being deported. The fact that the employer in this case does not receive any punishment, but the workers do, makes me sick.
The USG has no compassion even separating families of LEGAL immigrants and people attempting to LEGALLY IMMIGRATE into the US. I am a native born American Citizen and they sent my french wife out of the country because they asked her to do the impossible in order to stay (like attend meeting under threat of arrest on days the office is closed). They had the nerve to tell her she had broken the law by marrying me! Five kids end up without a mom as a result. Honestly, I understand why so many people immigrate “illegally”. The legal route just grinds them to dust. See my website www.ameaglepubs.com or go to www.unitefamilies.org. Our answer is to move away from the US permanently. We’re going to Central America - at this point it’s freer and there’s more opportunity there than in America.