An interesting event took place Tuesday in Grand Island, Nebraska. Swift has a huge meat processing plant there and employs hundreds of immigrant workers. Tuesday morning, buses pulled up to the doors, Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers entered the buildings and arrested and removed 261 employees.
Ramifications below:
After a ten month investigation into idenity theft, the arrested were accused of using forged or false Social Security Cards.
Business is down: the owner of a Mexican Grocery Store reported she did not have one customer Wednesday.
Absenteeism was high Wednesday. During the raid, the superintendent of G.I. schools had a virtual lock-down, stating schools are where children are supposed to be safe.
"Social Services brace for numbers" and reported that some families are "sleeping in their cars."
The Nebraska Cattlemen Association issued a statement "With much of the nation's agricultural industry dependent on migrant labor, comprehensive reform of immigration laws are needed."
To the great credit of the G.I. Police Captain, he refused to allow his officers to participate in the raids on Swift. Paraphrasing here, he said these people are members of our community and I'll no part in making them afraid of the police. I gather the ICE officers did not agree and faulted them for not helping in the arrest of their community members.
The numbers of the arrested men and womens' families is staggering, shocking, and distressful. A Latino couple who were friends of ours were deported (Dec. 23) and we kept their three little "illegals" for six months while their parents sought to come back to the US legally. I was much involved with legal aid, and attornies who specialize in immigration issues, my state Senator, INS, all to no avail.
These people have absolutely no legal representation. If a red flag goes up in the INS, they are g.o.n.e.
MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!