The Shame of Postville, Iowa

Anyone who has doubts that this country is abusing and terrorizing undocumented immigrant workers should read an essay by Erik Camayd-Freixas, a professor and Spanish-language court interpreter who witnessed the aftermath of a huge immigration workplace raid at a meatpacking plant in Iowa.

The essay chillingly describes what Dr. Camayd-Freixas saw and heard as he translated for some of the nearly 400 undocumented workers who were seized by federal agents at the Agriprocessors kosher plant in Postville in May.

Under the old way of doing things, the workers, nearly all Guatemalans, would have been simply and swiftly deported. But in a twist of Dickensian cruelty, more than 260 were charged as serious criminals for using false Social Security numbers or residency papers, and most were sentenced to five months in prison.

What is worse, Dr. Camayd-Freixas wrote, is that the system was clearly rigged for the wholesale imposition of mass guilt. He said the court-appointed lawyers had little time in the raids’ hectic aftermath to meet with the workers, many of whom ended up waiving their rights and seemed not to understand the complicated charges against them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/opinion/13sun2.html?th&emc=th

It's not all that.

If they had interpreters, they understood the charges, just as they understood that using fake SS#s is a crime.

Is that it!?!

Why should they be exempt? Don't Americans have to follow the laws of other countries when they leave the U.S?

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You call for immigrants to be prosecuted to the full extent, but where is your indignation at the factory owner? As long as he gives you some benefit of the crime via lower prices, are you willing to swallow it?

and asks others to break the law for him (telecom industry) and then congress gives them a get out jail card. Of course, they're far more important than those sneaking across the border in an effort to make a living.

Our leaders are setting the tone: breaking the law really doesn't matter.

Don't forget that little part of the charge there Ms. Enforcer.

The real crimes of Postville will never be prosecuted thanks to the Feds. The owners of the Postville plant, big republican donors that they are, were being investigated by the state for forced labor, wage and hour violations, child labor, forced sex to keep employment, selling of SS#'s and more. Thanks to the acts of the Feds, the state of Iowa's investigation is thwarted and the witnesses are back in Guatemala. Convenient, huh?

Xenophobia is a very ugly weakness.

8 USC 12.2.4.1227.4.A. Deportable aliens
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode08/usc_sec_08_00001227----000-.html#a_4_A
(A) In general
Any alien who has engaged, is engaged, or at any time after admission engages in—
(i) any activity to violate any law of the United States relating to espionage or sabotage or to violate or evade any law prohibiting the export from the United States of goods, technology, or sensitive information,
(ii) any other criminal activity which endangers public safety or national security, or
(iii) any activity a purpose of which is the opposition to, or the control or overthrow of, the Government of the United States by force, violence, or other unlawful means,
is deportable.

8 USC 12.2.8.1326. Reentry of removed aliens
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode08/usc_sec_08_00001326----000-.html
(a) In general
Subject to subsection (b) of this section, any alien who—
(1) has been denied admission, excluded, deported, or removed or has departed the United States while an order of exclusion, deportation, or removal is outstanding, and thereafter
(2) enters, attempts to enter, or is at any time found in, the United States, unless
(A) prior to his reembarkation at a place outside the United States or his application for admission from foreign contiguous territory, the Attorney General has expressly consented to such alien’s reapplying for admission; or
(B) with respect to an alien previously denied admission and removed, unless such alien shall establish that he was not required to obtain such advance consent under this chapter or any prior Act,
shall be fined under title 18, or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both.


8 USC 12.2. Immigration
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode08/usc_sup_01_8_10_12_20_II.html

8 USC 14.1601. Statements of national policy concerning welfare and immigration
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode08/usc_sec_08_00001601----000-.html

I bet they had no idea they were using false ss numbers. Assholes.

8 USC 12.2.8.1324a. Unlawful employment of aliens
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode08/usc_sec_08_00001324---a000-.html

To be punished, the prosecution must prove that the employer either (a) knew the person was an unauthorized alien, or (b) did not follow the proper procedure for employment. Most cases are proved on point b, as it is an easier path to prove -- only the penalties are less severe. In the majority of cases, employers having a workforce of unauthorized aliens walk without punishment: so long as the paper work is in order, the prosecution rarely tries to prove willful fraud.

In fact, the way it works is really tilted in favor of the business person, as the JD goes after, in order of priority:
1. The unauthorized alien
2. The alien vector (transporters, agents, partners)
3. The employer