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2008-08-28 Home Front: Culture Wars

Feds: Immigrant Raid at Mississippi Plant Largest in U.S. History

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Posted by tu3031 2008-08-28 09:05|| || Front Page|| [1 views ] Top

#1 Very nice work. Pity it took us so long to begin to enforce the immigration laws we have on the books. We can thank George Bush for doing the obvious.

Posted by Richard of Oregon 2008-08-28 09:57|| 2008-08-28 09:57|| Front Page Top

#2 But you can count on union-affiliated democrats.

Posted by JFM">JFM 2008-08-28 10:05|| 2008-08-28 10:05|| Front Page Top

#3 About 100 of the 595 detained workers were released for humanitarian reasons,

The One, ACLU, NAACP, Nation of Islam, Hollywood creeps, leftest donks, all lawyers, US held "political prisoners aka thieves, rapists, gang-bangers, drug dealers, and murders... take note of the buzz phrase for future use.

Posted by Besoeker 2008-08-28 10:10|| 2008-08-28 10:10|| Front Page Top

#4 Funny you should mention unions. Guess the the illegals wouldn't join up. So...

Factory had tension between union, immigrants

LAUREL, Miss. (AP) Union bosses in this region of rural Mississippi have long grumbled that the largest factories here hire illegal immigrants, and that the immigrants were starting to get more overtime and supervisory positions.,Friction between the union and immigrant workers, along with a tipoff at an electrical manufacturing plant, boiled over this week into the biggest workplace immigration raid in the nation's history.

When the first of the 595 suspected illegal immigrants was taken into custody Monday, some fellow workers broke into applause. A spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the investigation started three years ago after agents received a tip from a union member.

In interviews with The Associated Press, both union members and immigrants spoke of a simmering tension. At least one immigrant said scare tactics were used to pressure people to join the union. Union members said they resented immigrants, who were often allowed to work as much as 40 hours of overtime a week when other workers were discouraged from doing so. All declined to give their names, saying they feared for their jobs.

Howard Industries, which makes dozens of products from electrical transformers to medical supplies, is in Mississippi's Pine Belt region, an area known for commercial timber and chicken-processing plants.

Robert Shaffer, head of the Mississippi AFL-CIO, said Wednesday that members have long complained that companies in southern Mississippi hire illegal immigrants. "Jackson, Hattiesburg, Laurel and all areas along the coast, it's a little Mexico," Shaffer said. "I'm not against people trying to make living. I have a compassion for those folks. But at the same time, the taxpayers of Mississippi shouldn't be subsidizing a plant that won't even hire their own workers."

In 2002, Mississippi lawmakers approved a $31.5 million, taxpayer-backed incentive plan for Howard Industries to expand. The company, with 4,000 workers, is the largest employer in Jones County, which includes Laurel.

About 2,600 of Howard Industries' workers are in the union. Shaffer said he did not know whether any of those picked up in the raid were union members, or if nonunion workers were offered overtime while union workers were not. Shaffer said offering immigrant workers union membership would depend on the situation, but he doubted it could be done if immigrants were in the country illegally.

Yeah. Right...

Those detained in the raid came from Brazil, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama and Peru.

Contacted Wednesday, Howard Industries referred reporters to the statement it issued Monday, which said the company "runs every check allowed to ascertain the immigration status of all applicants for its jobs. It is company policy that it hires only U.S. citizens and legal immigrants." No executives were detained in Monday's raid, but a spokeswoman said the raid was just the first part of an ongoing investigation.

A 30-year-old immigrant from Mexico who has worked at the transformer plant for three years said union representatives pressured immigrants to join the union, sometimes visiting their homes, offering gifts such as shirts and indicating that if they joined the union they would make more money. The immigrant, who was not caught in the raid because he works the night shift, spoke on the condition that he be identified only by his first name, Jose, because he was concerned about being detained. "The union uses the tactic of saying immigration was coming and the members of the union would not be taken," he said through a translator. Jose said he did not join the union because he wasn't convinced it would come to his side if he were detained, and he felt his dues would not be returned.

At least eight of the workers caught in the raid face criminal charges for allegedly using false Social Security and residency identification.

On Wednesday, hundreds of people lined up outside the plant to apply for jobs as news of the raid spread. A billboard had gone up last week, before the raid, saying the company was hiring. "I need a job and got kids. I heard that they need some help now," said Willie Keys, 20, who applied Wednesday. "All them Mexicans got fired because they didn't have a pass ... All these businesses have been taking Americans' jobs."

The unemployment rate in Jones County was 6.5 percent in July, slightly higher than the national rate of 6 percent but below the state's 8.5 percent rate.

William Gunther, an economics professor at the University of Southern Mississippi, said Mississippi has a labor shortage because people aren't moving there, which could explain why companies might hire illegal immigrants. "That leaves businesses with a serious problem," he said. "That doesn't justify, but it certainly explains why they might be hiring individuals who show up and say, 'I'll work for you.'"

He said businesses could face higher wage costs and consumers could face higher costs for products and services if immigrants are taken out of the economy.

Ruben Castro, who owns La Fiesta Brava Mexican restaurant, is already seeing the effects. He had to bring in workers from a store in another town because he was so busy after the raid, when five other Mexican restaurants in Laurel closed because employees were afraid to come to work. "It hurts the community," he said, because the town will lose 600 people who frequented stores like Wal-Mart and paid sales taxes.

Posted by tu3031 2008-08-28 10:20|| 2008-08-28 10:20|| Front Page Top

#5 Ship 'em back, but first make sure you get all necessary biometric ID, including DNA, to make certain that if they ever show up again, they'll do hard time for breaking the law. Plus, with the DNA, you can cross-check a lot of localities for crime matches. Illegals commit a heck of a lot more crime than most people think, mainly because the MSM open borders traitors often refuse to publicize it.

It's a good start. Now do more of it--a LOT more, and soon!

Posted by Jolutch Mussolini7800 2008-08-28 10:44|| 2008-08-28 10:44|| Front Page Top

#6 Hmmm....must be an election year. Some bread and games for the ~~mob~~ populi. /sarcasm off

Posted by Procopius2k 2008-08-28 10:48|| 2008-08-28 10:48|| Front Page Top

#7 Contacted Wednesday, Howard Industries referred reporters to the statement it issued Monday, which said the company "runs every check allowed to ascertain the immigration status of all applicants for its jobs.
I have no doubt that is a true statement. At the few manufacturing facilities here in East Tennessee employers are not allowed to do any checks other than a social security number. Thay can't ask for proof that the social security number actually belongs to the person using it.

Posted by Deacon Blues 2008-08-28 11:07|| 2008-08-28 11:07|| Front Page Top

#8 the same arguments for continuing slavery were the same arguments for allowing illegal immigration: The economy will collapse, the crops will rot in the fields, they do the work that no one else will do, they are better off being abused here than they would be back home.

Illegal immigration is organized oppression of the world's poor. It should be discontinued because it is immoral.

Posted by Betty Grating2215 2008-08-28 11:19|| 2008-08-28 11:19|| Front Page Top

#9 Taking a page from Cesar Chavez's playbook, eh? (He was an informant for La Migra, after all...)

Posted by Swamp Blondie in the Cornfields 2008-08-28 12:07|| 2008-08-28 12:07|| Front Page Top

#10 Can someone explain to me the statement that the factories have to hire illegal immigrants because there are no workers available, while at the same time the unemployment rate is 6.5%?

Posted by Rambler in California">Rambler in California 2008-08-28 12:23|| 2008-08-28 12:23|| Front Page Top

#11 Not to mention that hundreds lined up to apply for the vacant jobs, Rambler. What I want to know is why there were Germans among the illegal workers.

Posted by trailing wife ">trailing wife 2008-08-28 13:22|| 2008-08-28 13:22|| Front Page Top

#12 The unemployment rate, posted earlier this month, is 5.7% nationally.

Posted by Steve White 2008-08-28 13:41|| 2008-08-28 13:41|| Front Page Top

#13 Hudreds of local LEGAL types lined up to do the jobs Amricans will not do?

Posted by OldSpook 2008-08-28 14:56|| 2008-08-28 14:56|| Front Page Top

#14 Steve - the locall rate there is 6.5%. That was what was being referred to, in irony.

Posted by OldSpook 2008-08-28 14:57|| 2008-08-28 14:57|| Front Page Top

#15 The largest single-workplace illegal immigration raid in U.S. history...

I'll bet that if the authorities were doing their job, they could break that record daily. It appears they need the unions to drop a dime before they act.

Posted by regular joe 2008-08-28 18:03|| 2008-08-28 18:03|| Front Page Top

#16 Cerebellar implants. Set off massive neuromuscular spasms if they try to cross the border without deactivation.

Posted by Glenmore">Glenmore 2008-08-28 19:15|| 2008-08-28 19:15|| Front Page Top

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