Patterico's Pontifications

9/11/2007

Union Files Suit to Stop Immigration Raids

Filed under: Immigration — DRJ @ 3:17 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

From the “News Before It Happens” department comes this press conference about a lawsuit that hasn’t been filed yet:

“The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union is seeking an injunction against the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to stop officials from conducting what the union calls illegal workplace raids. A lawsuit to be filed Wednesday morning in U.S. District Court in Amarillo, Texas, alleges that agents unlawfully detained workers and violated their constitutional rights during a widespread raid of six Swift & Co. meatpacking plants in December.

ICE officials investigating identity theft arrested more than 1,200 workers at the plants, but union officials have said more than 12,000 workers were detained against their will during the operation. The plants raided were in Cactus, Texas, about 65 miles north of Amarillo; Grand Island, Neb.; Greeley, Colo.; Hyrum, Utah; Marshalltown, Iowa; and Worthington, Minn.

The crux of the complaint seems to be that those workers who are legal were “criminalized.” According to Union President Joseph Hansen:

“Thousands of workers, citizens and legal residents who broke no law, committed no crime and who were not even alleged to have broken a law or committed a crime were criminalized for showing up at work, and they and their families suffered the horrible consequences.”

However, it doesn’t sound like the workers were as shocked as the Union officials. Out of more than 1,200 workers, the Union only found 8 willing to be named as plaintiffs and (potentially) 24 witnesses:

Eight workers and the union are named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit, but union officials expect at least three times that many to testify against federal agents. In addition to stopping the raids, the lawsuit seeks incidental damages for workers who say their rights were violated, citing the Immigration and Nationality Act and the First, Fourth and Fifth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.”

An ICE spokesman responded that any complaint would be vigorously contested:

Counts said all the workers were given full access to due process under the law and none had his or her rights violated. He said civil search warrants gave the agency the right to fully search the plants and question everyone there.

Counts said workers were allowed to use their own cell phones, company phones and even the phones of federal agents during the operation. He also said that at some of the plants, attorneys tried to get into the plant to talk to workers while the operation was happening. “We do not allow client shopping by attorneys during a law enforcement action,” Counts said. “No law enforcement agency would.”

I wonder if some of the employees used the federal agents’ phones to call their attorneys?

— DRJ

4 Responses to “Union Files Suit to Stop Immigration Raids”

  1. There’s an easy to solution to this problem, not just in immigration cases but across the board: guilty till proven innocent. Problem solved.

    /snarcasm

    ras (adf382)

  2. First thing I would do is mount nation-wide raids of all UFCW offices looking for illegals who are on the union payroll.

    Another Drew (8018ee)

  3. It makes sense. About 10% of a union employee’s pay goes to the union in the way of dues and pension contributions. Pension contributions which, among other things, have been used to fund mob activities. See e.g. Martin Scorcese’s “Casino”. A lot of people are making money off illegal immigrants, and not just employers.

    nk (0c0cd0)

  4. Thanks, Patterico.

    nk (0c0cd0)


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