Raid an 'Outrageous Use of Force,' Leftist Union Says

Since 12-14-06

By Nathan Burchfiel
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
December 13, 2006

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200612/NAT20061213d.html

(CNSNews.com) - An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid on meatpacking plants Tuesday violated immigrants' rights and constituted an "outrageous use of force," according to the union that represents meatpackers.

The raid on six Swift and Company facilities in as many states targeted illegal immigrants suspected of stealing Social Security numbers to pose as legal workers.

"The ICE raid at Swift meatpacking plants yesterday exhibited an outrageous use of force and violated the rights of many of the workers inside the plants," the United Food and Commercials Workers (UFCW) said in a statement Wednesday.

UFCW International Vice President Mark Lauritsen said the targeted workers were "victims of wholesale violations of worker rights. In effect, ICE is criminalizing people for going to work."

Lauritsen said a "failed immigration system" has led to the illegal immigrants' children being "orphaned."

The union, which says it represents 10,000 Swift and Company workers in five of the plants, is providing legal advice to those who were arrested, and is working with workers' families to provide any assistance they may need.

Jim Papian, a spokesman for UFCW, told Cybercast News Service that UFCW isn't arguing that ICE wrongfully targeted legal workers, but rather that federal agents used excessive force in the raid.

"Our contention is that ICE said they were going in there because they thought people had stolen identities, Papian said. But, he added, the warrants listed about 170 suspects -- "so they went in and terrorized 13,000 people to somehow find 170 people."

Papian said the union does not yet know how many workers were actually detained. Authorities have not said how many workers were arrested during the raids because they are still processing the information.

Papian said he sympathized with Americans whose identities were stolen, but argued that the raid was not about stolen identities.

"Of course ... nobody should have their identity stolen, but this thing wasn't really about identity theft," he said. "This is about going into these plants with this overwhelming show of force which ends up terrorizing people and terrorizing whole communities."

According to ICE, its 10-month investigation indicated that "large numbers of illegal aliens may have illegally assumed the identities of U.S. citizens or lawful U.S. residents and improperly used their Social Security numbers to gain employment at Swift facilities." The agency said it has identified "hundreds of potential [identity theft] victims."

In a statement Tuesday, Swift said it believed the raid -- which it referred to as "employee interviews" -- violated agreements the company had made with the government. It said the raid raised "serious questions as to the government's possible violation of individual workers' civil rights."

In the statement, Swift CEO Sam Rovit said the company has "never condoned the employment of unauthorized workers, nor have we ever knowingly hired such individuals."

U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, Republican of Colorado, where one of the raids took place, praised ICE for enforcing immigration laws.

"I am grateful that ICE agents are appropriately targeting illegal aliens whose prior record of criminal behavior may present a risk to the citizens of Colorado," he said in a statement Tuesday.

He called in ICE to "continue to be diligent in addressing the illegal immigration crisis in Colorado and bring those engaged in criminal activity to justice."