Immigrants Caught In Fugitive Dragnet

San Diego- More than one-third of 18,000 people arrested in a nearly yearlong federal crackdown on illegal imigrants were not the people authorities targeted, according to government figures.
The so-called collateral arrests involved people picked up by immigration agents while seeking fugitives such as drug smugglers, theives, drunken drivers and others who flouted deportation orders.

Ny Times
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Arrest In Immigration Raid
Immigration agents arrested two managers and 60 other employees of an industrial cleaning company on immigration violations and charges of identity theft in a raid at a central Illinois meatpacking plant.

Immigration Raid Yields 62 Arrests In Illinois
By Libby Sander
CHICAGO, April 4 -- Immigraton agents arrest two managers and 60 other employees of an industrial cleaning company Wednesday on immigration violations and charges of identity theft in an early morning raid at a meatpacking plant in central Illinois.
The operation was the latest in a string of raids by agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement on companies accused of employing illegal immigrants who, in some cases, are alleged to have stolen the identities of American citizens to create false identification documents.
The raid occurred at 1:30 a.m. at Cargill Meat Solutions in Beadstown, a twon of 6,000 people northwest of Springfield, where the cleaning company, Quality Service Integrity Inc., was under contract to clean Cargill's pork processing plant.
The two managers, who officials said are Mexicans in the United States illegally, and 11 of the workers arrested Wednesday were charged with aggravated identity theft. Identity theft charges were brought against 14 additional employees of the cleaning service, but they have not yet been arrested, said Gail Montenegro, a spokeswoman for the immigration agency.
Forty-nine employees were taken into custody for alleged immigration violations. In all, 54 of the 62 people arrested are from Mexico; 5 are from Guatamala; 2 from El Salvador and 1 from Argentian, Ms. Montenegro said.
Eleven of the workers taken into custody were released on humanitarian grounds, officials said.
Neither Cargill nor any of the 2,200 employees at its Beardstown facility were objects of the investigation, officials said.
The two managers are Gerardo DominGuez-Chacon, who manages the cleaning company's Beardstown operation, and Maria del Pilar Maroquin de Ramirez, the company's personnel adminstrator. Both are charged in a criminal complaint with aggravated identity theft and with "aiding and abetting aggravated identity theft in connection with the alleged hiring of illegal immigrants." If convicted, they face at least two years in prison.
Prosecutors said that the two managers knowingly hired illegal immigrants and that Mr. DominGuez-Chacon provided new employees with stolen identities and gave illegal immigrants information on how to obtain false identification documents.
The cleaning service is described on a company Web site as a member of the Vincit Group, which is based in Chattanooga, Tenn. A woman answering the telephone at Vincit said no one was available to comment.
The investigation into the cleaning company's hiring practices began in January, officials said, and revealed that most of the company's work force was illegal immigrants.
In December, immigration agents raided six meat-processing plants operated by Swift and Company in six states, detaining 1,282 immigrants believed to be in the country illegally and charging 219 so far, mostly with identity theft.
Since the Swift raids, smaller raids have occurred in many states. Immigration authorities say they are stepping up efforts to go after companies that engage in the trafficking of false and stolen documents used by illegal immigrants to obtain employment.
Last week, agents arrested 69 immigrants placed by a temporary job agency, Jones Industrial Network, at work sites in the Baltimore area. In early March, more than 360 people, including the owner and three managers, were arrested at Michael Bianco Inc., a leather goods manufacturer in New Bedford, Mass.
Three days after the Massachusetts raid, charges were brought against the president of Sun Drywall and Stucco, an Arizona construction company, and seven managers accused of hiring illegal immigrants.
And in Michigan, federal prosecutors brought charges in February against three executives of Rosenbaum-Cunningham International, a cleaning and maintenance company, alleging that the three defrauded the federal government of more than $18 million in employment taxes owed on behalf of hundreds of illegal immigrant workers. Nearly 200 immigrant workers in 17 states and the District of Columbia were arrested as part of the investigation.

quote:

Originally posted by explora:
Ny Times
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Arrest In Immigration Raid
Neither Cargill nor any of the 2,200 employees at its Beardstown facility were objects of the investigation, officials said.

Yeah, it wasn't mentioned here whether Cargill had any knowledge of them hiring illegals. Of course, like Wal-Mart and all the rest, they'd say they didn't know they weren't being screened. When I saw the name Cargill I was surprised seeing it in this article. When I read the above-referenced paragraph it didn't surprise me when it said they weren't the object of the investigation. Probably paid them off to leave them out of any negative publicity such as being questioned if they aware.

quote:

Originally posted by Theone:
Countries such as Mexico can not participate in the DV because of the numbers of immigrants they send to the US, Kennedy made a special arrangement to let the Irish in, no logic.

Wasn't Kennedy of Irish descent?

quote:

Originally posted by explora:
U.S. Raid on an Immigrant Household Deepens Anger and Mistrust
By NINA BERNSTEIN
Published: April 10, 2007
EAST HAMPTON, N.Y. "” Awakened by banging on the front door and the shouts of strangers inside her family's sprawling suburban home, Erica Leon, 12, thought at first that the house was on fire....."

NY Times
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Letters
Immigration, Through Many Lenses
To the Editor:
"U.S. Raid on an Immigrant Household Deepens Anger and Mistrust on L.I." (news article, April 10) illustrates the ugly zenophobia, racism, classism and cultural intolerance underlying the anti-immigrant furor that has swept the country.
It appears that the Leon family was targeted by both local and federal authorities chiefly for the "offense" of being relatively poor Hispanics in the wealthy Hampstons.
What is particularly egregious is that many prosperous people who object so loudly to the presence of Hispanic Immigrants have no problem with such immigrants -- legal or illegal -- when they are cleaning the houses of the affluent, mowing lawns or doing construction work, all for low wages.
John S. Koppel
Besthada, Md., April 10, 2007

I submitted this letter to editor of local newspaper Dec 2005. At that time many letters were submitted regarding the Spanish language. Notice that I state if Jose can hit home runs, crops harvested and finishing touches on homes, nobody notices what language they speak.

Spanish Speakers Have Value

Regarding the letter, "Avoid Spanish" [Oct. 23], it reeks of racism at the highest level. The United States enjoys a unique heritage of Spanish-speaking people from all walks of life. Hispanics are represented at every level of society and are the fastest-growing group in this country. May I remind the writer that she rethink her position on this issue when she considers:

That a great number of people residing in these "united states" are citizens by birth and naturalization, and, as such, deserve respect of their human dignity.

That they are entitled to that American heritage of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Additionally, those whom we label "illegal immigrants" are often grouped into that category by virtue of their surnames, how they look, and because of America's history of racial bigotry and prejudices. Yet a large percentage of these people have become Americans by virtue of their marital status, by taking the initiative to qualify themselves toward meeting all requirements prerequisite to citizenship or by being sponsored by a legal resident of this country.

To be sure, this nation is indeed predominantly English-speaking. But lest we forget, those much-despised Spanishspeaking people are the ones who directly and indirectly provide a substantial part of our livelihood. Hispanics are a large percentage of the targeted population by corporate America. Their buying power and economic offerings suggest the necessity of bilingual marketing tools.

And if mainstream-American company managements desire continual workers for hire who don't resist their below-minimum-wage salaries, then it would be to their advantage to seek effective ways of communicating with these employees.

If "Jose" can hit numerous home runs, or harvest our crops, or provide the finishing touches in multimillion-dollar construction work, no one will notice what language he speaks.

Spanish is just as much a universal language as English and, like it or not, it's here to stay in America.

Mind Your Manners, And You'll Be Speaking My Language
Published: Apr 13, 2007
By Fernando Figueroa

I was sitting with two very good friends recently, when one of them remarked: "Why don't "those people" learn to speak English?"

That kind of terminology usually makes my blood boil because of the implied inferiority of the term "those people." But I held my tongue and kept listening.

"Yeah ... I hate it when they start speaking Spanish in front of you and they don't speak English," the other friend went on.

And then it dawned on me: The problem that many monolingual folks have with us bilingual people isn't where we come from or how we got here, but the lack of manners when we exclude others from a conversation conducted in a foreign language.

It's not "English only" that's the issue. It's etiquette.

I seriously doubt that an illegal immigrant who risks crossing the border and goes through that whole ordeal was saying to himself: "Cuando llegue a los Estados Unidos lo unico que voy a hacer es quitarle el trabajo a un Americano y hablar Espanol para destruir la fabrica cultural de el pais."

Translation: "When I get to the United States the only thing that I will do is take the job of an American citizen and speak only Spanish in order to destroy the cultural fabric of the country."

Very unlikely.

The fact is that any immigrant, whether legal or illegal, should soon recognize that learning English is necessary to survive and thrive. Not doing so means economic stagnation and that defeats the purpose of the difficult journey to get here.

Somewhere along the way Americans have been dealing with so many issues of race, discrimination and language that we've never addressed the issue of etiquette between the cultures.

It's true there are bigots out there. "Those people" have their own set of personal issues they need to work out. "Those people" are not my concern because I believe they are a minority of Americans.

But if you are carrying on a conversation in your language and there's a third party standing there who does not understand, you have to translate. It's good manners.

But you monolinguals aren't off the hook either. If people are carrying on a conversation in a language that you do not understand, ask them nicely to translate.

I understand that it is not easy to interrupt an ongoing conversation. But I would argue that these little social transgressions lead to big misunderstandings and ill will.

So the next time you want to complain about "those people" (which when used to refer to an ethnic group, isn't kosher at all) not speaking your language, try instead to communicate with them.

And if you're speaking Spanish or any other language and not including those around you, remember you're the one being an elitist snob.

I recall a few years ago where I was sitting with two other co-workers of whom was bilingual. The two were conversing and had basically concluded their conversation when another co-worker approached the bilingual guy commencing to speak in Spanish. The two conversed as the other just sat aside of them listening but not understanding. In our work environment it is common to be in a discussion, conclude it and begin another with someone else excluding others at the same time.
I asked the bilingual why he didn't continue speaking in English since the other was still there. (The other was actually slacking on his work and resting.) He said there are many things that it's easier for us to say in Spanish than English. I personally feel he should've at least stopped and informed the other of what the topic was about, for instance, "We're discussing the ....." It would have been more courteous. I discussed it with the English speaker and he was so open and honest telling me, "I felt left out." I had already knew it was easier for the others to converse in Spanish and I explained it to this individual which he understood and accepted.
I also enlightened him to the fact that I feel left out sometimes when each and everyone of them (including him) can stand there and look each other in the eyes speaking English with each other (males) and don't include me (female) in conversation. The same occurs with male superiors giving work-related directives. They have a tendancy to look at the male and not the female (similar to some car salesmens). I told my co-worker that the next time he feels left out when listening to a bi-lingual speaker then he'll remember how I feel sometimes when I'm left out and not even looked at. (By the way, I'm verbal and if I want to interrupt I do when appropriate. Just trying to express my point here.)
So, it's not just bi-lingual speakers that might exclude others, a lot of males in our society still overlook females and in a language we both speak.

There's one thing about this country, and that's that people love diversity. "American Culture" is nothing but a compound of many cultures and life styles, assimilated, twisted, transformed and integrated into rich traditions passed on from one generation to the next. Culture is not about uniformity, it's about diversity, about evolution, change and adaptation.

This is why it's strange and cause for concern to watch some people talk about "protecting the uniformity of the American culture", the statement doesn't make much sense, it would appear to be forced speech to convey racial issues but people are well aware of that, it's never going to work in a highly evolved society such as this one.

I'm all for making English the official language, every society needs one backbone and there's nothing better or more effective than language. Official languages are one thing, trying to erase all traces of "foreign" or "non-white" culture is another. Remember WWII and how the "Navajo code talkers" saved the day by simply employing a "language code" in their own native dialect, and the Germans just couldn't break it. All other "codes" were broken, but not the "Navajo" code. Culture? Culture can save lives!

If the absurd concept of "uniformity" was to be applied then please answer, who has it right when it comes to pizza, Chicago or New York? Is pizza even going to be allowed as an "american food"? This is ridiculous, absurd and a waste of time, but let's all remember, it's only a very thin line dividing the strict issues of culture and race.

Imagine traveling to the east coast to find the very same scenery, traditions, foods, art and even accents that you find all over the nation. That would be boring, unappealing. This nation is so rich because it knows how to accept, assimilate and integrate bits and pieces of every culture into its own; stop feeding it and it'll deteriorate.

If it wasn't for immigrants, and I mean all immigrants, this country would be very different, think about it, a 4th of July without bbq and fireworks...

I love American Culture just the way it is, a mix of everything, filled with beautiful sounds, colors and full of surprises. Best part, it'll continue to renovate itself so it'll never become old, boring, out of style. What else can you ask for?

I really enjoyed reading your post, Houston. We're not that far apart on our beliefs. Are you a law student? You sound like it from how eloquently you post your notes.

CollegeStudent and others,
I'm not far from one of the Swift meatpacking plants that was raided. I hope to speak with some people from the area and hear what the locals have to say. If anybody has any specific questions I'll be happy to get info if I can.

By Rosa Ramirez And Todd Hartman, Rocky Mountain News
April 20, 2007

Colorado farmers say a major immigration raid this week at a potato processing plant in the San Luis Valley will make it even harder to draw workers to the state's already labor-tight fields.
Farm groups said the raid by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was believed to be the first in recent memory on a Colorado agricultural operation tied to a field crop. It follows a major ICE raid at the Swift & Co. meat-processing plant in Greeley in December.

The ICE activity, combined with tougher new state immigration laws and a political climate in Colorado that's perceived by immigrant workers to be hostile, has major ramifications for state farms and livestock operations dependent on migrant labor, agriculture officials said.

"We have a chronic labor shortage here," said Jim Ehrlich, executive director of the Colorado Potato Executive Committee in Monte Vista. "Legal immigrants are even afraid to come to the state because they feel Colorado has jumped out in front of the rest of the nation and targeted them . . . Spanish-speaking radio in other states (sends out the message) that you shouldn't come to Colorado."

The Tuesday raid netted 22 arrests at the Worley & McCullough potato plant in Monte Vista. Nineteen workers were arrested on immigration charges. Three others, including the general manager and a company foreman, were arrested on charges of obtaining and possessing false identifications and aggravated identify theft.

The raid followed an 11-month investigation into hiring practices at the facility and involved an ICE special agent posing as an illegal immigrant and obtaining false identification.

The arrests "are part of ICE's aggressive, ongoing pursuit of employers who egregiously violate the law," said Jeff Copp, special agent in charge for ICE in Denver. "All employees in all industries and locations must comply with the nation's laws."

Copp said that the raid was the first on an agricultural facility in Colorado in his six years on the job. But he seemed to discourage the idea that ICE was on the verge of targeting agricultural operations statewide.

He described the agency's priorities as areas connected to "national security interests," citing military bases, utilities, "critical infrastructure," or elements connected to them. He did not cite agricultural operations, and said they were not looking at other potato plants.

"The information that we received on what they were doing out there was so egregious that we needed to address it," Copp said. "Just because they're not on top of our priority list doesn't mean we're not going to look into them."

Farm groups reacted warily to the Monte Vista raid. While careful to say they support the notion of hiring legal workers, they worried about the impact.

They said state legislation passed during a special session last year that tightened the rules for businesses to ensure that they hire only people eligible to work in this country has created confusion for farmers and made it tougher to find labor.

"Agricultural labor is an (increasingly) complicated issue for the producers within Colorado, and this is just another sign of probably the times to come," said Troy Bredenkamp, executive director of the Colorado Farm Bureau.

"Whether guest workers or temporary workers are legal or not, the impression this sends throughout the community is that Colorado is not a guest- worker-friendly environment, and so it definitely makes it more difficult for us to find the appropriate legal labor that we need," he said.

U.S. Rep. John Salazar, a Democrat representing southern Colorado, issued a statement that said the action shows the need for immigration reform at the federal level to clarify rules for businesses and workers alike.

"The ICE raid that happened in Monte Vista this week loudly echoes the message being sent by the American people that Congress must get to work now on this difficult issue that only we can solve," Salazar said.

Meanwhile, Flora Archuleta, executive director of the San Luis Valley Immigrant Resource Center, said the raids abruptly break families apart.

"We have people who don't know what's going to happen to them," she said, describing a father and his three children who came to her office. His wife had been arrested during the raid.

"The children were asking me: 'What's going to happen to my mom? Are we going to have to go to Guatemala? Where is Guatemala?' "

Immigration officials stressed Thursday the consequences of the alleged illegal activity by company officials and workers.

Copp said one suspected illegal immigrant arrested at the potato farm was using an authentic Social Security number that belongs to a full-time student in El Paso, Texas. The victim, Copp said, was mistakenly arrested in 2002 on a warrant in Brownsville, Texas, for failure to appear in court on a DUI charge.

'Egregious' activities alleged

Three employees arrested on ID charges

Facing criminal charges of obtaining and possessing false identification cards, and aggravated identity theft:

"¢ Michael Abeyta, 40, company general manager.

"¢ Javier Fuentes- Sotelo, 32, a company employee.

"¢ Luis Trujillo, 42, a company foreman.

Recent workplace immigration raids

"¢ Feb. 22, 2007: A dozen suspected illegal immigrant workers at three metro-area chain restaurants are arrested as part of an ongoing investigation of a nationwide janitorial service.

"¢ Dec. 12, 2006: About 260 immigrant workers are arrested at the Swift & Co. Greeley plant. It is one of a number of raids conducted the same day at Swift facilities in six states.

"¢ Sept. 20, 2006: At least 120 workers are arrested at a military housing project adjacent to Buckley Air Force Base.

"¢ April 19, 2006: Immigration agents raid 40 sites owned by IFCO Systems, the nation's largest pallet recycler, including its operation in Commerce City. Thirty-eight workers are arrested there.

hartmant@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5048

Hmm, chronic labor shortage...

quote:

Farm groups reacted warily to the Monte Vista raid. While careful to say they support the notion of hiring legal workers, they worried about the impact.

Typical business attitude on wearing 2 different masks when it comes to illegal workers.

quote:

Originally posted by explora:
Lawyers Say U.S. Acted in Bad Faith After Immigrant Raid in Masachusetts
By Pam Belluck
BOSTON, March 21, 2007
Lawyers for some of about 350 immigrants arrested this month in a raid on a leather factory in New Bedford, Mass, appeared before a federal judge Wednesday, charging that the government had acted in bad faith, moving the immigrants to detentin centers in Texas too quiclyand denying them adequate access to lawyers.

MASSACHUSETTS
Judge Temporarily Bars Deportations
Boston - A Massachusetts judge on Friday temporarily barred federal officials from deporting a large grouop of illegal immigrants snared in a factory raid last month.
U.S. District Court Judge Richard Stearns granted the emergency request from lawyers for the detained immigrants, who argued that about 110 of 360 workers arrested may have agreed to waive an appeal of their deportation order under duress or with improper translators.

April 22, 2007
American Legion Auxiliary Holding a Mexican Pile-On Dinner
from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the American Legion Building across from the Dome. Adults are $5.50 in advance and $6 at the door. Children under 10 are $3. For tickets, call Helen Martinez at 878.3987 or Dot Chowins at 273.3853.

quote:

Originally posted by ProudUSC:
I really enjoyed reading your post, Houston. We're not that far apart on our beliefs. Are you a law student? You sound like it from how eloquently you post your notes.

Is he?

quote:

Originally posted by SICKOFILLEGALS:
Perhaps your i.q.'s are lower than that of the rest of the world? What is it, I'd like to know.

Higher than yours which is under the threshold for mental redardation.

quote:

Originally posted by chuck:
ADOPT A BIGOT

This program will benefit both the 15,000,000 undocumented immigrants and the bigots. How the program works. A hard working, tax paying, law abiding, church going, family oriented undocumented immigrant family adopts a bigot like Tom Tancredo or Lou Dobbs by corresponding with him to familiarize the bigot with what kind of people he is wanting to deport. Maybe the bigot would become more knowledgeable about the real humanity of many of these undocumented. As a result of this we would have more supporters of real comprehensive immigration reform, enough to pass a decent, compassionate, affordable, workable bill. We have waited long enough, remove this wicked cloud over all these good people and get on with finding the undesirable ones who are not good citizens.

Good idea. Adopt Someone12 a.k.a. sickofillegals

www.democracynow.org
Thursday, April 19th, 2007
Mass Immigrant Rights Rally Planned for May Day 2007 One Year After Record Day of Protest

Javier Rodriguez, an organizer with the March 25th Coalition, one of the main groups behind the mass rallies here in Los Angeles last year and for this upcoming May Day as well.

------------------------------------------------
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AMY GOODMAN: We're less than two weeks away from May Day. On that date last year, more than 1.5 million immigrant rights supporters turned out for what was considered the largest day of protest in US history. Many had walked off the job in an action meant to highlight the impact of living without immigrants. Organizers are expecting an even greater turnout this year. Protests and walkouts are planned across the country for what's being called the Great American Boycott II.

The immigrant rights movement is facing several challenges. President Bush recently vowed to renew his effort to pass immigration reform, while immigrant workers have been subjected to a growing wave of raids and deportations.

Javier Rodriguez is our guest, an organizer with the March 25th Coalition, one of the main groups behind the mass rallies here in Los Angeles last year and for this upcoming May Day, as well. Welcome to Democracy Now!, Javier.

JAVIER RODRIGUEZ: Thank you very much, Amy.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about what you are planning this year?

JAVIER RODRIGUEZ: Well, we have sixty-three organizations that have convened the second national boycott for May 1: Great American Boycott II. We have at this time approximately sixteen states on the list with about seventy-five cities, the major cities in the country, from LA all the way to New York -- Texas, Colorado, the state of Washington, the Midwest, Illinois, Wisconsin.

AMY GOODMAN: What do you think has happened in terms of immigrant rights issues since last year?

JAVIER RODRIGUEZ: Well, we defeated Sensenbrenner, the Hagel-Martinez bill. And a new version of immigration reform has come to the fore. It is essentially pro-corporate-designed immigration reform.

And the difference now, in terms of us, we're a lot better organized. We have been able to pretty much consolidate the mass movement. And now, we are at, as you said, almost two weeks towards May 1, and we expect a large turnout, not just on the streets in over seventy-five cities, but also the boycott.

Last year, just in LA alone, we almost closed the whole city down. We had over four million people participating. This time around, we may have the same amount. We may affect the economy the same way, and in the rest of the country.

But also, we have gone over to the other side to organize in Mexico, and there's major support. In Mexico, we have over a thousand organizations in Mexico in different parts. And we are closing several of the ports of entry from Mexico to the US. Last year, just from Juarez and El Paso -- from Juarez, over 40,000 workers refused to enter to work to El Paso on May 1. This time around, it will be Brownsville, Reynosa/McAllen border, and also Juarez again, and hopefully we will have Tijuana.

In addition to Mexico, we also have Venezuela expressing a big, big movement of solidarity with the May 1 movement here for immigration reform, for the 12 million to 13 million people here.

Over 600,000 women with over 3.3 million children that are US citizens, that's what the struggle is about today.

AMY GOODMAN: What difference has it made that Democrats are now in power in Congress?

JAVIER RODRIGUEZ: Very little, at this time. Very little. Yes, last year the Congress was controlled by the extreme right. We were able to participate in the overall electorate that defeated, especially the antiwar sentiment. And now, we have, let's say -- the first proposal came from the Democrats, the Gutierrez-Flake bill, but it's essentially corporate-designed. It is designed to make a worker who has been here seven years, fourteen years, even up to thirty-eight years, which is my mechanic -- the project -- the proposal calls for a wait of approximately fourteen years to be able to get your green card, besides having a guest worker program, besides having a totally enforcement, let's say, section very similar to the Sensenbrenner bill.

AMY GOODMAN: When President Bush announced his so-called guest worker plan, it was a few days after yet another mass rally at the beginning of April of tens of thousands of people here in Los Angeles. Among the things in Bush's plan is to create a new visa category for undocumented workers who could apply for renewable three-year work permits for $3,500. Then, in order to become legal residents, they would have to return to their home countries, apply and pay a $10,000 fine. The proposal also prohibits temporary workers from bringing their families into the country. Your response?

JAVIER RODRIGUEZ: My response: it's absurd, it's ridiculous. Now, let's say, the $13,500 would pay for the coyote, for the drug smuggler, five times. It is -- let's say it is an insult. And what we see is President Bush pushing for an immigration reform that is, what we think, designed to counterweight, water down any efforts by the Democrats to approve any immigration reform, any future immigration reform, either this year or the following year.

AMY GOODMAN: The significance of immigrants fighting in Army being sent to Iraq?

JAVIER RODRIGUEZ: Let's say, it's a shame. It is making criminals, murderers, mercenaries out of immigrants in exchange for a green card. And it is making -- what is it? -- an estimated 40,000 immigrants, human beings, that it's going after human beings in another country in a war that should not be a war, that it's totally a war of occupation of, let's say, with politically designed rationale, as it is known now. It was totally fabricated. So if immigrants are going with a sense of patriotism, with a sense of getting in exchange their green card, or rather citizenship, it is totally wrong.

AMY GOODMAN: What about these detention facilities around the country? I think now a record of more than 26,000 immigrants currently in prison in the United States. We have been doing a big story out of Taylor, Texas, the Don Hutto Family Detention Center there, where immigrants are held, about 200 children. I think the ACLU has brought suit. You've also got the prisons at Raymondville, the largest prison camp in the United States. Can you talk about these?

JAVIER RODRIGUEZ: It is what we consider now the immigration-industrial complex. Prisons are on the -- let's say are on the vision of government and also industry, the enterprise. And along with the wall, it is nothing but a money-making scheme, the building of prisons, the building of detention centers. And it is totally also in violation of human rights to imprison children in this country, immigrant children, just for so the-called crime of crossing into the United States, just as adults.

AMY GOODMAN: How, finally, are you organizing in your plans for May? What are the different organizations?

JAVIER RODRIGUEZ: Let's say one of them: the International Longshoremen Workers Union, or West Coast union. They have passed a resolution to close down the ports on May 1. The whole West Coast is going to be closed. The trucking industry, those that pull the cargo, also are with us. United Teachers of Los Angeles are with us. The major coalitions in the country that closed down the cities last year, San Antonio, the Border Social Forum, a New York May 1 Coalition and others.

AMY GOODMAN: Javier Rodriguez, we're going to have to leave it there. I want to thank you very much for joining us.

To purchase an audio or video copy of this entire program, click here for our new online ordering or call 1 (888) 999-3877.

Los Titulares de Hoy: Democracy Now!'s daily news summary translated into Spanish

Friday, April 27th, 2007
750+ Immigrants Detained in "Operation Return To Sender" Raids

Over the past month U.S. authorities have arrested and detained at least 750 immigrants in raids across the country. The sweeps are part of a program dubbed Operation Return To Sender run by the federal agency ICE, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In California 359 immigrants were detained over a two-week period in late March and early April. Many of the arrests were made after officials from ICE raided private homes.

In Maryland, 65 workers were detained in late March during a raid at the sportswear company Under Armour outside of Baltimore.

On April 4th in Beardstown Illinois, ICE raided a slaughterhouse owned by Cargill. 62 workers were arrested.

In New York, 42 immigrants were arrested near Albany in early April. Authorities raided private apartments and picked people off the streets. Two immigrants were arrested while buying a pizza.

In Pennsylvania, 61 immigrants were arrested during a four-day sweep.

In Willmar Minnesota, immigration officials were accused of waging a campaign of terror and intimidation after they raided private homes without warrants looking for undocumented immigrants. 49 arrests were made. Immigrant rights advocates sued federal authorities and accused them of targeting anyone who looked Latino.

On April 17th, 19 workers were arrested during a raid at a potato farm and processing plant in Colorado.

Two days later in West Burlington Iowa, 17 more immigrants were arrested at a concrete plant. Another 88 immigrants have been detained recently in New Orleans.

Longtime labor journalist and photographer David Bacon joins us in our Firehouse Studio. He has been closely following the recent immigration raids. He recently wrote an article titled "The Real Political Purpose of the ICE raids."

David Bacon, longtime labor journalist and photographer. He is a programmer on Pacifica Radio's KPFA in Berkeley and author of the new book "Communities Without Borders: Images and Voices From the World of Migration." He is in New York this weekend for the Labor Voices conference.
Check out David Bacon's Website.

-----------------------------------------------
RUSH TRANSCRIPT
This transcript is available free of charge. However, donations help us provide closed captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing on our TV broadcast. Thank you for your generous contribution.
Donate - $25, $50, $100, more...

AMY GOODMAN: Over the past month, US authorities have arrested and detained at least 750 immigrants in raids across the country. The sweeps are part of a program dubbed Operation Return to Sender, run by the federal agency ICE, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In California, 359 immigrants were detained over a two-week period in late March and early April. Many of the arrests were made after officials from ICE raided private homes.

In Maryland, sixty-five workers were detained in late March during a raid at the sportswear company Under Armour, outside Baltimore.

On April 4th in Beardstown, Illinois, ICE raided a slaughterhouse owned by Cargill. Sixty-two workers were arrested.

Here in New York, forty-two immigrants were arrested near Albany in early April. Authorities raided private apartments and picked people off the streets. Two immigrants were arrested while buying a pizza.

In Pennsylvania, sixty-one immigrants were arrested during a four-day sweep.

In Willmar, Minnesota, immigration officials were accused of waging a campaign of terror and intimidation after they raided private homes without warrants, looking for undocumented immigrants. Forty-nine arrests were made. Immigrant rights advocates sued federal authorities and accused them of targeting anyone who looked Latino.

On April 17th, nineteen workers were arrested during a raid at a potato farm and processing plant in Colorado.

Two days later in West Burlington, Iowa, seventeen more immigrants were arrested at a concrete plant.

Another eighty-eight immigrants have been detained recently in New Orleans.

Longtime labor journalist and photographer David Bacon joins us now in our firehouse studio. He has been closely following the recent immigration raids, has just written the article, "The Real Political Purpose of the ICE raids." David is a programmer on Pacifica Radio's KPFA in Berkeley and author of the new book Communities Without Borders: Images and Voices from the World of Migration, in New York this weekend for the Labor Voices conference.

What is the purpose of these ICE raids, in your eyes, David?

DAVID BACON: Well, Michael Chertoff, the Secretary of Homeland Security, told us what that purpose was, Amy, when he said after the raids at the Swift meatpacking plants last fall that these raids were intended to show Congress the need to adopt the Bush administration's immigration program, which is essentially huge new guestworker programs and an increase in enforcement, both on the border and in workplaces.

So, essentially, I think communities and unions and progressive people around the country were being -- this is a form of extortion, really. It's like saying to us, "Give us what we want, or here's what you can expect to have more of." And it's a very, I think, an inhuman and a brutal way of forcing us to agree to this program, because the people who are paying the price of this are people like the young child that was held in San Francisco in the detention center for hours and hours and hours. I mean, these are just ordinary human beings who are just trying to work for a living.

AMY GOODMAN: We're going to go to break, then come back to this discussion. David Bacon, labor journalist. We'll also be joined from a member of the Immokalee Workers, who has just won a major battle against McDonald's, next taking on Burger King. Stay with us.

[break]

AMY GOODMAN: I'm Amy Goodman, joined by David Bacon, labor journalist, writes for a number of publications, including The Nation, The Progressive, the Pacifica News Service, as well as the Pacific News Service. His recent piece: "The Real Political Purpose of the ICE Raids." David, the recent arrest of people in the New Bedford factory in Massachusetts, describe what happened.

DAVID BACON: Well, ICE came in, and it took people off the line. They came in as usual with warrants saying that there were certain people who had deportation orders, or that -- they actually had the names of some people on warrants, but, of course, what they do is they have the names of a few people on warrants, and then they pull in a whole lot of other people who were around them.

They took -- there were a lot of women who work in this plant, so they took the women, and they shipped them to detention centers in places like Georgia, for instance, long ways away from Massachusetts. They were separated from their children. These were women who were responsible for picking up their kids after school. So there was big outcry because of the separation of families here. And I think it highlights one of the important reform provisions that are being made in Congress now, which is the Child Citizen Protection Act, where often the children who are being separated from their mothers are citizens themselves, people who were born here. And yet, they're either being deported themselves, because they have to stay with their parents, or they are separated from their mothers and their fathers. And we need to make sure that families are kept together.

AMY GOODMAN: I mean, it's an amazing story. The women who were taken from the New Bedford factory, I mean, their kids, some infants, some women breast-feeding, were taken away. And their kids are just left with someone who was taking care of them while their mothers were at work.

DAVID BACON: That's right. This is a very kind of -- again, this is a very inhuman policy, these kinds of immigration raids. And it's obvious that ICE really has no respect for people's families and is really looking at people in a very anti-people, anti-human way.

AMY GOODMAN: How does it work? How does a raid work, whether it's in a private home or whether it's in one of these factories?

DAVID BACON: Well, again, you know, this is supposedly Operation Return to Sender. So ICE has the names of a few people on warrants, so they'll go -- for instance, in Richmond, California, they went out to a school and stationed themselves in front of the school, supposedly looking for these people, and just stopped everybody coming in and out, asked people for their documents, but only, of course, people who looked Latino. And in this case, they were stopping women who had just dropped their children off. So, obviously, they were going to separate these families, if they picked up any of the people who were involved.

Or there was just another immigration raid in Chicago, where they went to a parking lot in a kind of a mall in the Latino community in Chicago, and they just sort of closed off the parking lot, people carrying, you know, assault rifles. They looked like soldiers. And they, again, had the names of supposedly four people that they were looking for. How they expected to find them in a shopping mall in a parking lot, I have no idea. But what they really did was they went and asked everybody for their immigration papers and began just sort of pulling people in, shoving them into vans.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about the Republican Senator John Cornyn proposing to eliminate all family-based visas and allowing people to come into the US only as a result of recruitment by corporate employers?

DAVID BACON: Well, yes. This is the Bush proposal. Bush really wants to do and the corporations want to do away with the system of family reunification, which is the system under which people get visas, permanent residence visas, to come to the United States to reunite their families. And so, Bush and Cornyn are proposing to, instead, as part of setting up these huge guestworker programs, to only allow people to come to the United States when they're being offered a job or when they're being recruited by a big corporation. So, really, they're trying to transform our immigration system into one in which people's only value in the United States is as workers for some large corporation, rather as people with families and communities.

You know, it was an achievement, Amy, of our Civil Rights Movement in 1965, when people like Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta and Ernesto Galarza and Bert Corona convinced Congress to end the Bracero program, which was a contract labor program, and instead initiate a new kind of immigration system whose intention was to protect families and communities. And this is what the Bush administration is trying to do away with.

And at the same time, you have to remember, also in Congress right now are things like new fast-track authority for negotiating new trade agreements. On January 1 of next year, the agricultural chapter of NAFTA will go into effect, which will allow big US grain companies to dump corn and beans on the Mexican market, which will displace tens of thousands more people, who will have no alternative but to enter this migrant stream. So, on the one hand, the administration is doing those things which cause people to have to migrate, you know, increasing economic desperation, and at the same time trying to kind of convert that stream of migration into a stream of workers and, you know, only workers. In other words, not families, not communities, just people whose only value is what they can do for a corporation.

AMY GOODMAN: On Monday, I went down to Raymondville, Texas, to this vast tent detention camp right behind a prison. As soon as we got there, we were met by the security, and they cocked their guns at us, one of the men in the pickup truck saying we got to get off the property now. We reported on the Jonathan Hutto facility, where kids are held, hundreds of kids -- the ACLU is suing now -- and talked to a nine-year-old boy named Kevin, who said, "I just want to go home. I just want to be free." What about these prisons?

DAVID BACON: Well, the Bush administration is privatizing the enforcement of immigration law. They're building huge detention facilities, which are run by private corporations, like Halliburton, for instance. Halliburton has started to build these. And this is part of the increased enforcement program that the Bush administration has. This is sort of like the flipside of the guestworker programs, to say -- you know, to try and negotiate or to establish new guestworker programs to bring people to the US as contract workers, and for anybody who's not part of that program, to begin to arrest people, detain people, as we're seeing in these raids, put them into these kinds of -- you know, I would say they're close to concentration camps, really, but that are also sort of private business giveaways to Bush cronies.

AMY GOODMAN: Where is Halliburton building them?

DAVID BACON: You know, there are contracts that the administration has put out now for the construction of detention centers. This is part of the proposal for the wall. So, on the one hand, you build the wall, and on the other hand, you build detention centers along the border. And so, there are contracts now that have been let out for the building of these detention centers, and Halliburton has gotten some of these contracts.

AMY GOODMAN: To the Dubai-based company?

DAVID BACON: The Dubai -- yes, right. No longer a US-based company belonging to our Vice President or one where he used to be an executive of it, for sure.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, as we talk about immigration and labor, I also want to bring into this conversation Gerardo Reyes-Chavez. He's a farm worker and member of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. The coalition represents over 4,000 mostly immigrant workers who labor in the agricultural fields of Southwest Florida. The group recently waged a successful campaign against fast food giant McDonald's over the price paid for tomatoes picked in Florida. In 2005, the Immokalee Workers also won a campaign against Taco Bell.

Gerardo Reyes-Chavez, welcome to Democracy Now! You're both here for this Labor Voices conference. Talk about this victory that you just won. You were on your way to McDonald's headquarters?

GERARDO REYES-CHAVEZ: That's right. Well, this is another big step for us in our struggle for fair food that started basically with the boycott of Taco Bell in 2001. And for us, this victory represents a big step, because, on one hand, we have the agreement with Taco Bell and Yum! Brands. The agreement was signed with the prime company of Taco Bell, and Yum! Brands is the largest corporation of fast food in the world, because it's made by five brands, among them Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Now we have this agreement with McDonald's. And what it represents is that we have the two biggest restaurant chains in the world with us, saying that they agree to pay more so that the farm workers have an increase of thirty-two cents per packet of tomatoes, that, before that, was stagnant since 1978 until now.

AMY GOODMAN: And explain how it works, because I remember certainly with the struggle with Taco Bell, they were saying we have no control over what these tomato pickers are getting paid, because we're not the ones who pay them. It's subcontractors. The same thing with McDonald's? How did it work? Did you meet with them at the beginning and they refused? And then, how did the pressure build?

GERARDO REYES-CHAVEZ: It was a process that took two years, to McDonald's. And after the victory with Taco Bell, after the agreement with them, we started to try to bring them to the table. And they were just trying to find another ways to find a solution, but without necessarily including us in that process. And we knew it was not going to work, and after two years, they realized that it was not working. So they had a seat at the table. It was because of the pressure of the people. There were many students all over the country organizing in solidarity with us. There were churches in the institutional level putting pressure publicly.

AMY GOODMAN: And how did they put pressure?

GERARDO REYES-CHAVEZ: They were just sending strong messages. For example, the NCC, the National Council of Churches, sent a message to them. People like John Sweeney from the AFL-CIO, students making protests, people from churches taking the streets --

AMY GOODMAN: How many tomato pickers are there?

GERARDO REYES-CHAVEZ: There are, I would say, around 6,000, maybe a little bit more. Every year is a little bit different.

AMY GOODMAN: And where are they originally from?

GERARDO REYES-CHAVEZ: Our community is formed by workers from Mexico, Guatemala and Haiti, mostly, and a few of other countries.

AMY GOODMAN: And who is next in your sights?

GERARDO REYES-CHAVEZ: Next in the list is Burger King, because they have said publicly that they are not going to -- they are not willing to do anything to improve the lives of the farm workers who, in this case, make their profits possible.

AMY GOODMAN: How much do tomato pickers get paid?

GERARDO REYES-CHAVEZ: It's forty cents per packet of thirty-two pounds, which is -- what it means is you have to pick two tons in a day in order to make only $50. That is not enough to have a decent living and sometimes not even enough to pay rent. And sometimes it is impossible to pick two tons. That is without any type of benefits or protections that exist in other industries. So we are just struggling in order to establish things that are normal. The most basic human rights are nonexistent when you are a farm worker.

AMY GOODMAN: David Bacon, we are moving up on May Day, on May 1, the anniversary of the big protest. What are the plans for May 1? Where do you see the immigrant rights movement today?

DAVID BACON: Well, I think there are going to be demonstrations in communities all around the country. You know, that's what we saw last May Day, was not just the huge demonstrations in Los Angeles and New York, but also that they were taking place in communities where we're not even accustomed to thinking of immigrants constituting a large part of the people there. So, personally, I'm going to be in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and little farm worker towns, you know, marching with some of the workers there.

I think that a lot of people are going to come out on May Day, because the problems that we were trying to deal with a year ago are still there. We need a legalization program in this country for the people who don't have papers -- and a real one, not some kind of phony temporary status, but one that really gives people rights and permanent residence. And at the same time, I think that people have sort of upped the ante since last year. We need to look at the fast-track authority. We need to look at the implementation of this last chapter of NAFTA and stop those from happening, because we also need to try and stop those things that are forcing people into this migrant stream so that people can choose for themselves whether to come or not.

AMY GOODMAN: Now that the Democrats are in charge, do you see them doing anything different than the Republicans?

DAVID BACON: I think there's a debate in the Democratic Party between people who basically want this corporate program and are willing to make a deal with corporations to get it and other people like, for instance, Congresswomen Sheila Jackson-Lee in Houston, who proposed last time a real legalization program that would give people green cards, and she connected it with a jobs and employment program, which I thought was a very far-sighted kind of proposal here. And she, I think, is still advocating for that.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to thank you both very much for being with us -- David Bacon, labor journalist, Gerardo Reyes-Chavez of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, for being with us today. And we'll continue, of course, to follow this issue.

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