The Republicans have done a magnificent job of camouflaging their real attitude towards illegal immigrants which is "We Want More!". Their overt and appalling racism shouldn't blind one to the fact that illegals are profitable, plain and simple. For decades Republicans have stymied efforts to create a verifiable ID system so that employers could be held responsible for their actions.
I would have a lot more sympathy for the union position here if they had a real organizing effort in Mexico that would get people union cards BEFORE they come to America. Otherwise, these unions are just encouraging a two-tier system.
boddi
On 12/14/06, Matthias Wasser <matthias.wasser at gmail.com> wrote:
> http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002139.php (includes
> legal documents)
>
> Union: DHS Raids Grabbed Legal Workers
> By Justin Rood - December 13, 2006, 9:14 AM
>
> Union officials are outraged over a massive immigration sweep yesterday,
> which sent 1,000 Homeland Security Department agents -- some in riot gear --
> to meatpacking plants in six states to round up immigrant workers suspected
> of using fake identification, but may have picked up legal workers in the
> process.
>
> "Stormtroopers came in with machine guns, rounded [the workers] into the
> cafeterias, separated identified citizens from non-citizens, and then they
> took away all green cards and put non-citizens onto buses," regardless of
> the immigrants' legal status, Jill Cashen of the United Food and Commercial
> Workers union (UCFW) told me this morning.
>
> Cashen said that reports from all six states confirmed that legal immigrants
> were among those taken away, and have not been returned. "We're still trying
> to find out where the buses went," she said. "Children have been left at
> church day cares. Nobody knows where these people are."
>
> Recently unsealed court documents show that DHS had identified 170
> identity-fraud suspects it wished to apprehend, but that the agency wanted
> to round up as many as 5,000 other workers because it "further expect[ed] to
> apprehend persons who are engaged in large-scale identity theft[.]" Union
> officials say the total number of detained workers may be higher than
> 5,000.Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has not released official
> tallies from the raids, but have promised to do so at a 10 a.m. press
> conference in Washington. UFCW is holding a press conference at 9:30 to
> discuss what they believe to be heavy-handed tactics used by the federal
> government.
>
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