Comments (59)

Seven of Six wrote on December 13, 2006 10:28 AM:

And the employers?

LC wrote on December 13, 2006 10:34 AM:

My guess is, the point of rounding up the illegals on identity theft charges is to let the employers off the hook. That way, they're victims, not accomplices.

gjdodger wrote on December 13, 2006 10:37 AM:

ICE says Swift & Co. will not be charged. They were pretty pissed off about the whole thing, said in a statement it violated an agreement they had with the government on identifying workers' legal status, and may have violated the workers' rights as well. I'm sure they were also wondering why it was just their plants that were raided and not Tyson's, Smithfield's, etc.

Anonymous wrote on December 13, 2006 10:39 AM:

What was that bit about violating someone's civil rights under color of law?

Tyler Davis wrote on December 13, 2006 10:57 AM:

When will the 5,000 some-odd workers be allowed to return to work? What is the effect on Swift & Co.'s productivity in the absecence of 5,000 workers courtesy of DHS?

RT wrote on December 13, 2006 11:09 AM:

Isn't there something in the 14th Amendment about persons not being deprived of liberty, among other things, without due process of law?

Rounding up thousands of people on the off-chance that they may be here illegally - that's not MY idea of 'due process of law,' but I'm not a lawyer; I'm just a citizen, so what do I know?
[/sarcasm]

gjdodger wrote on December 13, 2006 11:13 AM:

Swift kills 20,000 cattle and 36,000 hogs a day at their plants. Yesterday's estimated US cattle slaughter was down 16,000 from last Tuesday, and hog kill was down 20,000. It also affects the farmers, since reduced demand for their animals lowers the price; some guys panicked yesterday and took a $1/cwt hit on their feedlot cattle, just to move them. The western cornbelt hog market was down $2.54/cwt carcass basis.

SkippyFlipjack wrote on December 13, 2006 11:17 AM:

This is what they're calling "identity theft" nowadays? making a fake green card for the purpose of working in this country?

Jalmari wrote on December 13, 2006 11:27 AM:

If they were serious about immigration, Swift's offices, files and computers would've been seized, and the company would be facing disincorporation if convicted of knowingly hiring illegal immigrants.

However, government policy is to generally look the other way, except for the occasional high-profile raid to maintain proper appearances and keep the workers obedient and fearful. If they can harass a union shop in the process, so much the better.

glenn wrote on December 13, 2006 11:41 AM:

the HLS/government has been taking the "minority report" pre-crime thing to a whole new level. those poor folk are lucky they weren't shot trying to escape!

pholkhero wrote on December 13, 2006 12:03 PM:

Wow...is this it? Are they "first coming for the immigrants" as they old saying goes re: the Nazi's??

It's pretty f-ed up that no one knows WHERE these buses went to, and where these people are now!

Cheech Marin wrote on December 13, 2006 12:15 PM:

I was born in East LA
Man, I was born in EAST LA!

Don wrote on December 13, 2006 12:17 PM:

A sad commentary on so called civilization. Why not raise a pet in the backyard and slaughter them yourself. I boycott all food from violence. Quality fats help to lose the memory of animal fats and feel better too.

gjdodger wrote on December 13, 2006 12:19 PM:

In re Swift's culpability, I don't like what I'm seeing. Swift apparently knew the raids were coming, and filed a suit in Amarillo to block them. They had been participating in some deal where checking an employee's records in a federal database is tantamount to demonstrating legal status, and argued that was all they needed to do; ICE responded Swift was knowingly employing illegal workers, and participating in the program was not a shield. ICE also said Swift interviewed 450 workers voluntarily in October and November, and 90% or more turned out to have fake ID and quit on the spot; ICE told Swift to stop doing that, for some reason. They've been in this trouble before, and I can't imagine why they're getting let off the hook now.

sbrayman wrote on December 13, 2006 1:54 PM:

Didn't something like this just happen the other day in Baghdad? ...

SickOfPC wrote on December 13, 2006 2:31 PM:

Big deal.

The meat packing industry has been knowingly using illegal aliens for years, to undercut unions and avoid paying a decent living wage to workers in a tough, unappetizing jobs.

Swift should be fined gigantically. And the illegals should be returned to southern Mexico. The legals should then be returned to their families as quick as possible. It'll be tough sorting out all the forged documents.

Unfortunately, profiling happens when most violators belong to the 'profiled' ethnicity or nationality.

deem wrote on December 13, 2006 2:44 PM:

My first reaction was cynical. Was Swift singled out because they were not big GOP donors like most meatpackers? Well, no, it turns out they donate hugely to the GOP. So, I'm wondering if this raid has anything to do with a meat contamination incident that happened a few days ago. The USDA were notified that Swift accidently sprayed waste water on cattle & rather than label them as contaminated - as required, they tried to clean the cows and released the meat to markets. Maybe Swift was in need of a major inspection & crackdown. But the way they did this immigration raid is a little too heavy handed for me. Machine guns!?

Tom3 wrote on December 13, 2006 2:50 PM:

Tom Tancretin (Retard-CO) is screaming for Swift execs to be arrested. Guess he won't be getting any campaign contributions from them.

Get ready for more of the same. Repukes took a beating on the immigration issue when it was found out that Chimpy cut enforcement by 75%. So they will go overboard and detain a bunch of legals.

Welcome to the New World Order, where the fascist federal government can detain YOU with no habeus corpus. It's all quite legal, you know.

Anonymous wrote on December 13, 2006 3:38 PM:

If the fed doesn't go after the corporate executives, then nothing will change.

LW wrote on December 13, 2006 3:45 PM:

Homeland security is so fucked up that when employers try to screen potential employees for hiring, as required by homeland security, the social security number the applicant gives the employer to check is run through the system but it only shows if that number exists or not...it doesn't say if someone else already has that number. This enables identity theft on a large scale.
You should check the yearly report that you get from social security to see if wage earnings other than your own show up. If they show up, someone else is usuing your number.

d wrote on December 13, 2006 3:53 PM:

Identity theft by illegal workers is NOT a victimless crime and it needs to be stopped. This a great first step. Where their civil rights infringed upon a bit: no. They are not US citizens and have no rights under our constitution. Further they do not have a civil right to steal identities and ruin a citizens life. If the union is so upset, why weren't they proactive in weeding out ID thieves in their midst? Or does the union approve of crime?

ALD wrote on December 13, 2006 4:01 PM:

Hey sick of PC, you won't be sick of it the day it affects you. The enemy changes, it could be a blue eyed blond tomorrow, so protect the rights of all today. Just paraphrasing the the historic poem:
They came for .... and I did nothing...
Then they came for me and no one was here to help.
So know it's wrong for the feds to bust in and just take people, period!!!!!!!

Not d wrote on December 13, 2006 4:11 PM:

"This a great first step."

Are you out of your effing mind? Some of these people were legal. And you dont know if they stole identities. You only know what you've been TOLD SO FAR. That's all you know.

You dont need submachine guys to carry this out.

Where were they taken? To the detention centers Halliburton just built?

Andy wrote on December 13, 2006 4:28 PM:

"Brown shoed squares in the dead of night."

"Jack-booted thugs"

What has happened to the United States of America?

I think it's finally time we replaced that 'c' with a 'k'..... Amerika!

Nobody else wants to pull chicken guts out of butchered chickens for $7.00 bucks an hour! And most of these people weren't involved in "identity theft".... most illegals use SS#'s that NEVER EXISTED!

I'm disgusted with my own country.

James wrote on December 13, 2006 5:00 PM:

Funny that union leaders are outraged. As a union member for 20 years it seems to me allowing anyone to work for depressed wages is not what unionism is about. And to Andy, I know pkenty of people who would pull guts out of chickens for $30.00 hr plus good benefits. Sounds like republican talking points to me.

About_time wrote on December 13, 2006 5:24 PM:

This is sickening… the company is crying foul? No more Swift & CO Products for me – they’d rather hire illegal’s then minorities?

Swift and Company should be held accountable.

The people that have false ID should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. As an American we would be prosecuted.

There are a lot of legal Americans looking for jobs.

Finally, something good from Homeland Security; On to McDonalds, Wal-Mart, etc....

Until you find your self arrested on a warrant for bad checks when an officer was just going to let you know you had a tail light out and on top of that you get a collection notice that you owe $7,232.00 to credit card companies you knew nothing about and have to pay for a lawyer to clear your name and spending god knows how much of your time...
How can anyone say that these people (sure I am compassionate) should not have been rounded up? Should have happened a long time ago….

Ginger Winchester wrote on December 13, 2006 5:53 PM:

Crack down on the employers, for goodness sakes. You wouldn't have a problem if you'd simply enforce the law they are required to follow - to get minimum ID required (two pieces of federally issued photo ID). If you don't have it, you don't get hired.

Wal-Mart, for starters, doesn't follow that simple law, and look how corrupt they are - and they are still doing business, with hardly a bruise to show for it. If you cracked down on the biggest offenders, like Wal-Mart, you'd send a very loud message to every employer: ONLY HIRE LEGAL WORKERS, OR YOU'LL BE PUNISHED/FINED/PUT OUT OF BUSINESS/ETC.

Andrew wrote on December 13, 2006 6:12 PM:

"two pieces of federally issued photo ID"?

I only own one, my passport. Most Americans have no federally issued photo ID. After all, a state DL is just that - state ID. It does not provide proof of citizenship nor even permanent resident status. An just how many people have more than 1 government issued photo ID?

TSop wrote on December 13, 2006 6:41 PM:

Boeing 'loses' a laptop with thousands of peoples' ID info and nobody is held accountable. Identify theft my ass. Swift didn't kick in enough to Bushco and a message is being sent.

Robert Riley wrote on December 13, 2006 7:24 PM:

An added twist is that the roundup was done on Guadalupe day (December 12). Was this intentional do you suppose?

The Oracle wrote on December 13, 2006 8:34 PM:

So, I wonder which one of the secret detention centers (being built for $385 million by Halliburton) have these workers disappeared into?

Since these workers no longer have any legal rights under the Bush administration, some of the children "left behind" at the daycare centers may never see their parent or parents again.

Secrecy is the modus operandi of all tyrants. Therefore, secrecy will be the death of our democracy unless the "rotten to the core" Republicans in the Bush administration aren't stopped soon.

bah wrote on December 13, 2006 9:57 PM:

why don't those 1,000 SS goons go to IRAQ.

Jeebie wrote on December 13, 2006 10:05 PM:

Agree with d, James, and about_time. Sorry RT, respectfully disagree. Other sources have reported this was a 10 month investigation, not a random sweep. Is the Muckraker a little slanted? Stormtroopers? Other papers report them as "law enforcement" or "DHS personnel". These are not minor infractions and they have had due process, my compliments to DHS.

John wrote on December 13, 2006 10:55 PM:

ICE and HLS are doing these things to get us used to them as it will become a major activity after they declare martial law on us, the American people. If it is allowed to continue and spreads to other areas which include legal immigrants and natural born citizens then at that time force will have to be met with force. This is a most undesired reply as it would also mean the end to any that resisted in this matter, at least in the beginning, but the alternative could be far worse. Before and hopefully in place of this we must flood the offices of our elected officials with phone calls, letters and e-mails to voice our discontent. hopefully that will do the job if not...you tell me.

yonni wrote on December 14, 2006 12:38 AM:

Fashism is on the march

Schwa wrote on December 14, 2006 1:16 AM:

Jeebie, the 'stormtroopers' line was a quote from a union leader. Regardless of how you feel about, by most accounts, legal immigrants being loaded onto unmarked vehicles and taken to undisclosed locations, it's ridiculous to treat reporting of public statements as some kind of editorial comment.

BlueTicker wrote on December 14, 2006 2:30 PM:

Let me just say her, try not to forget the economics of this - sure many will pull guts out of chicken for $15.00 an hr or pick lettuce or pack meat -

The question is; are you willing to pay $5.00 a pound for Chicken or $8.00 a pound for hamburger or $3.00 for a head of lettuce? That's the reality of having a lower wage based community that has since the establishment of our country, always been filled by immigrants wanting and willing to pay the low wage price to become part of America.

afm wrote on December 14, 2006 10:52 PM:

When Upton Sinclair penned his most widely read novel, The Jungle, shortly after the turn of the twentieth century, he was one of many writers who sought to reconcile the rise of industrialization with its devastating and demoralizing effects on society. For Sinclair, reform could not cure the disease. He believed that only revolutionary change—the replacement of capitalist ownership of the means of production with democratic industrial socialism—could offer hope for a civil and benevolent society in the future. The Jungle, a graphic depiction of an immigrant family’s experiences in the meat-packing district of Chicago, is most often classified as muckraking literature; it could, however, be just as easily categorized as political propaganda. Sinclair clearly reveals his opposition to the capitalist system on the grounds that it was intrinsically corrupt. In the introduction to his edition of The Jungle, Christopher Phelps distinguishes Sinclair’s radical position from the ideas of contemporary progressive writers who wrote of reform, regulation and the reining-in of big business.

Roberta X wrote on December 15, 2006 6:37 AM:

...And we all know just how well "democratic industrial socialism" has been shown to work in the real world by repeated experiment, don't we? --Far worse than capitalism!

It's not "capitalism" to either expolit people or to round 'em up under the muzzles of automatic weapons and take them off to Places Unknown. (And working for wages you've freely accepted isn't being "exploted.") Come to think of it, sweetheart deals between business and government isn't capitalism, either: it's known as either "merchantilism" or "fascism," I think depending on how fancy the uniforms are.

Me, I'm buying stock in a jackboot factory. Geez.

Led Boots wrote on December 15, 2006 7:24 AM:

Wow, I really don't know what to think of this. I'm kind of in shock, I think.

Regardless your viewpoint or political affiliation, unless you ARE a straightforward fascist, you MUST be outraged by the thought of ANY federal agency assuming the guilt of thousands of people and taking whatever action deemed necessary to "prove" that guilt.

How can this be acceptable in our society? How can we, as citizens even rationalize this action? Have we gotten to the point where, as long as our cell phones are still working and the our ISP doesn't go down, we don't care about what the Fed does to our fellow human beings?

Is it going to be that easy for them? It is, isn't it? They're going to walk right through society, segment by segment as they see fit, rounding up and weeding out the 'bad' ones and we aren't going to do a g*ddam thing about it. The Sheeple will go though their stupid lives drinking their lattes, chatting incessantly on the cell phone while sitting in traffic in their Camry listening to their spoonfed news thinking "good for them feds...clean up this country"

Wake up folks. Get over your Republican/Democrat or Leftwing/Rightwing BS arguments. This is so much bigger than that. It goes so much beyond those arguments, as to make them trivial in comparison.

"To enslave a people, you must move the fence in slowly, little by little, for as not to raise awareness to your purpose. For if you move too quickly, you will cause alarm and revolt will surely follow."

The fence is moving in, folks. WAKE THE F**K UP!!!

felix wrote on December 15, 2006 2:32 PM:

If DHS on the grounds of rounding up 170 identity thieves (and expecting more) busted into a corporate headquarters in SWAT gear and arrested 5000 cubicle employees INCLUDING you as a 'possible suspect' would there even be an debate about the legality of this?

Hermán wrote on December 15, 2006 3:52 PM:

Keep in mind that no one in this country if free of being raided-our person, your privacy, or anything else.

Hermán García

David Conrad wrote on December 16, 2006 3:02 AM:

If the jobs paid good union wages and came with full benefits, it would do our economy so much good that we'd easily be able to afford $5/lb for chicken, $8/lb for hamburger, or $3 for lettuce (although I wouldn't pay that much for lettuce; in fact, I wouldn't buy it if they were giving it away for free). If cheap goods from cheap labor is so worthwhile, so ... necessary, maybe we should cut the minimum wage in half, instead of raising it?

Will wrote on January 31, 2007 8:26 AM:

Howdy Folks. I was wondering if anyone had any details on the Eastern re-union that is being held in Moncton in 2007. Cheers, Dan

pjgoober wrote on February 10, 2007 2:22 PM:

"Longest, Largest" study of the children of immigrants by Princeton's Alejandro Portes and UC Irvine's Ruben Rumbaut:

http://today.uci.edu/news/release_detail.asp?key=1529

excerpt:
"Differences in arrest and incarceration rates are also noteworthy, particularly among second-generation, U.S.-born, males. While only 10 percent of second-generation immigrant males in the survey had been incarcerated, that figure jumped to 20 percent among West Indian and Mexican American youths."

We seriously need to think about helping the hispanics we have here instead of importing millions more to cut down thier wages and take up finite social services.

apply for credit wrote on April 24, 2007 4:22 AM:

Apply for credit online: top ways explained

apply for a credit card wrote on April 24, 2007 4:25 AM:

Best available credit card offers in easy to understand manner. You can search, compare and apply for a credit card online - and in some cases even get a credit decision within 60 seconds!

apply for a credit card wrote on April 24, 2007 4:26 AM:

Best available credit card offers in easy to understand manner. You can search, compare and apply for a credit card online - and in some cases even get a credit decision within 60 seconds!

credit card offers wrote on April 24, 2007 4:47 AM:

Credit cards are a great financial tool, offering many benefits:

* They can be safer and more convenient to use and carry than cash
* Credit cards offer the ability to buy goods and services now and pay for them later
* They have valuable consumer protections under the law
* Major credit cards are accepted by merchants around the world
* They may provide a source of cash or payment in an emergency
* Credit cards can guarantee hotel or travel reservations

master card offers wrote on April 24, 2007 5:03 AM:

MasterCard Worldwide is a membership organization owned by the 25,000+ financial institutions that issue its card. MasterCard is also the company's brand of credit cards. It was originally created by United California Bank, Wells Fargo, Crocker National Bank, and the Bank of California as a competitor to the BankAmericard issued by Bank of America. BankAmericard is now the VISA credit card, issued by Visa International.

credit cards e-zine wrote on April 24, 2007 5:17 AM:

credit cards news e-zine

free articles wrote on April 24, 2007 5:20 AM:

Publish articles for free, free articles for your web site

best affiliate programs wrote on April 24, 2007 5:38 AM:

Top paying affiliate programs reviews

internet dating wrote on April 24, 2007 5:54 AM:

Internet dating site invites members for completely free dating. Post your profile, upload pictures and communicate with others!

social networking myspace wrote on April 24, 2007 6:03 AM:

Express yourself! Create your own profile and personal page, talk with your friends using instant messenger or online chat, write blogs, join groups, add your pictures to gallery and view others, participate in forums and quizzes, tell your opinion in polls, browse and create classified ads, find out about events and more.

myspace layouts wrote on April 24, 2007 6:14 AM:

Myspace layouts, myspace codes, myspace graphics, myspace flash player and much more stuff.

bruce@gmail.com wrote on May 1, 2007 10:30 AM:

hello

rdcpwzf cwnig wrote on August 5, 2007 8:04 AM:

eyczn ysnob pzvymb eionaf dcyxr qpxfyacz ktgm

lolita nymphets wrote on January 25, 2008 2:27 AM:

I have just found an interesting forum on this theme
http://groups.google.com/group/nymphets-studio/web/nymphets-2