Saturday, May 17, 2008

Another Raided Plant Ostensibly To Stem ID Theft (Not)

POSTVILLE, Iowa — At least 300 people were arrested Monday on immigration and identity theft charges at Agriprocessors, one of the USA's largest packing plants for kosher meats.

Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement entered the Agriprocessors complex in this northeast Iowa community of 2,500 during morning work hours, executing warrants for fraudulent use of others' Social Security numbers in connection with their employment at the plant. The packing plant has attracted workers from Mexico, Russia, Ukraine and elsewhere.


It seems that all of the immigration raids that have taken place the past couple of years are at meat and poultry processing and packing plants. I guess their lobbyists are just not as good as oh, say, Myanmar's!

ABC News Jan Simmonds reports: Two of Sen. John McCain' campaign aides resigned this weekend after media reports brought to light their ties to a lobbying group that once represented the military junta of Burma, which the regime calls Myanmar.

When reading these articles about the raids, the key phrase that pops up as the reason for them is the prevention of ID theft. But, interestingly, these raids rarely prove that the immigrants picked up were using stolen ID's or worse yet, using someone else's ID to create wealth for themselves by buying houses, cars, and adult playthings. Mostly the raids end up in rooting out hard working people who are barely making it (and not stealing stuff from ordinary Americans), and with their meager earnings send money home to familys that have almost nothing.

Funny, though, how only the employees of these packing plants are punished. And here, I thought it was illegal, as well, to hire the illegals ...

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