Hundreds nabbed in immigration raid (Including Execs Pallet Maker)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12393925/

Immigration agents arrested seven executives and hundreds of employees of a manufacturer of crates and pallets Wednesday as part of a crackdown on employers of illegal workers.

Authorities raided offices and plants of IFCO Systems in at least eight states, the culmination of a yearlong criminal investigation, law enforcement officials said.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested seven current and former IFCO Systems managers on charges they conspired to transport, harbor and encourage illegal workers to reside in the United States for commercial advantage and private financial gain, said Glenn T. Suddaby, the chief federal prosecutor in Albany, N.Y., where some arrests were made.

ICE spokeswoman Jamie Zuieback confirmed an unspecified number of raids and arrests but declined to provide additional details because the investigation was continuing. One official, speaking on condition of anonymity because numbers were still being tallied, said the arrests were in the hundreds.

Raids across the U.S.
Raids took place at several locations in upstate New York and in Biglerville, Pa.; Charlotte, N.C.; Cincinnati, Houston, Phoenix, Richmond, Va., and Westborough, Mass.

[Historic NY]

1. * creates new union jobs for American workforce............

:sarcasm:

[rzemanfl]

2. Pallet makers are pretty low down on the totem pole in the

military-industrial complex. I doubt that any of these "executives" could make impressive donations to the Repukes, so they take a publicity fall, while the guys at the country club chuckle.

[underpants]

9. Seriously, who is going to make our pallets?

I ask you.

:evilgrin:

[rzemanfl]

21. Halliburton, $1,000.00 a pallet. No-bid contract. n/t

[TheFarseer]

3. good

now let's just do that a few thousand times and we'll have made a dent in the problem.

[EFerrari]

22. Well said, progressive. n/t

[NorthernSpy]

4. THAT's what I'm talking about!

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested seven current and former IFCO Systems managers on charges they conspired to transport, harbor and encourage illegal workers to reside in the United States for commercial advantage and private financial gain, said Glenn T. Suddaby, the chief federal prosecutor in Albany, N.Y., where some arrests were made.

YES! Doitagain doitagain!

:thumbsup:

[smacky44]

5. I fear this is just a media PR stunt to help Bush's poll numbers with his

base. This will make great headlines and lull people into believing that this administration and the Republicans are doing a "hellava job." I doubt that there will be many more of these and it remains to be seen what actually happens with these illegals and their employers.

It sounds like a "wink-and-nod" operation to me.

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

6. Exactly, when Mr. Wonderful and myself saw this story on

NBC Nightly News we both said "BS" at the exact same time.

Why didn't ICE show up at some of the meatpacking plants in the Midwest and do this??? Guess who those owners donate their campaign cash to???

[hippiechick]

7. Here, too ...

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060420/NEWS01/604200423

Immigration raids held in Indy, U.S.
Crackdown targets hiring of illegal residents

By Tania E. Lopez

Federal agents raided an Indianapolis pallet factory Wednesday and detained vanloads of workers as part of a nationwide crackdown on the hiring of illegal immigrants.

One community leader familiar with the raid said as many as 60 were detained. Authorities would not release any numbers. Witnesses reported that vans began carrying workers away from the Southside plant in the morning and continued as late as 7 p.m.

The raids were part of a nine-state sweep Wednesday that arrested seven executives and detained hundreds of employees of IFCO Systems after a yearlong criminal investigation. IFCO officials in Indianapolis could not be reached for comment.

... more at link ...


So what kind of penalties are the CEO's facing for hiring illegal workers ? Few to none would be my bet ... :(

[primavera]

14. I'll be surprised if ICE can make anything stick on the CEOs

The perennial problem with worksite enforcement is proving that the employer hired illegals knowingly. We don't want to go after employers who are making good faith efforts to comply with the law and have innocently been duped by a fraudulent document, the authenticity of which the employer presently has no way of knowing with certainty. Unfortunately, that allows employers who do knowingly hire illegal aliens to escape prosecution by claiming "Hey, they showed me this cocktail napkin with a Social Security Number scrawled on it in crayon - how was I supposed to know it wasn't authentic?"

Even if you somehow manage to prove that the company was knowingly hiring illegal aliens, the executives will next try to escape prosecution by throwing some low-level sacrificial lamb to the wolves and will try to convince the government that it wasn't them, it was just this one bad apple. That was how Tyson's Chicken got off the hook - the government was never able to prove to a court's satisfaction that the senior management was aware of what their lower-level managers were doing. Of course, the senior management would have had to have been clinically brain dead to not know, but proving that in court was another matter.

In other words, it's a serious uphill battle making anything stick to the executive level.

[meganmonkey]

18. And in other other words

the only people who will suffer are those who are getting locked up, the workers themselves.

Unless you count a CEO losing a little profit and not making the payments on his provate jet.

[primavera]

19. That would be about the size of it, yep

But, of course, that's pretty much the norm here in this country in all matters.

[brer cat]

26. Don't count on the CEO losing anything!

See NY Times account:

"No senior executives at the company were arrested, but officials filed criminal charges against seven current or former lower-level managers and a foreman."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/21/washington/21immig.html?hp&ex=1145678400&en=b8dc26c33a54aa84&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Just a few bad apples.

[Tight_rope]

27. Damn...now who will make the pallets for the pallet guns "I DON'T" own!

[lynne]

8. Update: OVER ONE THOUSAND NABBED . . .

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/04/20/immigration.raids/index.html

"Federal immigration authorities rounded up more than 1,000 illegal immigrants at dozens of sites and charged nine individuals of the firm that employed them, federal law enforcement officials announced."

GOOD! Do this a few more times and maybe everyone will come to the understanding that there is a RIGHT and a WRONG way to immigrate into this country. I've no problem with those who choose to immigrate through legal channels. I have a BIG problem with those who feel that they are the exception to the rule and are above the law - both employers and immigrants.

[Strelnikov_]

10. So, I Take It IFCO Systems Management Did Not Donate Enough

to the GOP last campaign cycle.

Selective enforcement is worse than no enforcement at all.

[FlaGranny]

11. I just had to go back to work

after a too short retirement and the legal paperwork required is mind boggling. Proof of eligibility to work, credit checks, drug and alcohol testing, code of ethics, confidentiality agreements, etc. I had to sign at least 20 different documents. They don't make it easy for legitimate workers to get legitimate jobs. It would seem only fair that every worker in the whole country would be subjected to the same rules and regs.

[Ravy]

12. Don't the Rethugs always say about gun control...

... that there are existing laws on the books and that we don't need any more?


Throw that one back at 'em.

[Jed Dilligan]

13. They're nuts... or are they?

IFCO has a pretty good discrimination case unless they also bust some significant percentage of the 1000s of other companies that employ illegals. No way you can tell me they're the biggest or most blatant violator. What about Con Agra!?

It's like if everyone was driving 70 in a 65 zone, and you got pulled over because you have an old car and don't seem like you could beat the ticket.

Of course, when some court throws out the case it'll be third-page news, and the shrubbies will only remember that Bush "got tough" on the issue.

[meganmonkey]

15. Are the detention camps ready yet?

:(

[Barrett808]

17. "Operation Endgame" is in the house:

So is "Operation Endgame" still on the agenda?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=959004&mesg_id=959004

[meganmonkey]

16. Rally Planned Against Raids Of Illegal Immigrants

(CBS) CHICAGO Protesters are gathering to rally against a new round of raids on undocumented immigrants.

Numerous raids have left Chicago families without their loved ones, and this morning the government is talking about its new policy.

As CBS 2's Sylvia Gomez reports, Wednesday’s raids were the largest enforcement action in U.S. history by the Department of Homeland Security.

It is the culmination of a year-long investigation and nearly 1,200 immigrants were rounded up.

more at link...

http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/local_story_110122129.html

[maxrandb]

20. Wow!! What Progress!!

After a year-long investigation they arrested 1,200 illegal immigrants.

At that rate, it will take 9,166.6667777666..... years to catch all 11,000,000 immigrants that are undocumented.

This is nothing but a bunch of smoke and mirrors to try to prop up Bushies and the Repukes numbers prior to November. That's it. They're not serious about enforcement, or they would park a few thousand buses out in front of every Wal-mart in the country.

A "frickin'" pallet making company???????

Someone wake me when they start going after CONAGRA, MIDLAND, ALCOA, SUNMAID, Wal-mart, and the major construction companies.

Someone needs to see who IFCO donated money to.

[Breeze54]

25. Bush Administration Gives Wal-Mart a Pass

http://www.reclaimdemocracy.org/walmart/bush_administration_kid_gloves.php

Bush Administration Gives Wal-Mart a Pass on Multiple Violations of Labor Laws
By Steven Greenhouse
Published by The New York Times, March 19, 2005
Editor's Note: As the comments following this article point out, this case is a great example of the dual standard of justice in America that provides incentive for criminal corporations to flout laws designed to protect us. The negotiated payment by the Wal-Mart Corporation not only makes a joke of the U.S. Justice Dept., the amount is a joke for Wal-Mart -- equal to 20 minutes of income for the company by our calculation. Investigation of alleged offenses in more than twenty different states was dropped in exchage for Wal-Mart's check. This was the second time
in weeks such a sweetheart deal has been offered to the company, a major funder of Republicans.

Federal prosecutors and immigration officials announced yesterday that Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.,
had agreed to pay a record $11 million to settle accusations that it used hundreds of illegal immigrants to clean its stores.

Federal investigators said they had decided not to bring criminal charges against Wal-Mart,
the nation's largest retailer, because it was cooperating and had pledged strong action to prevent future employment of illegal immigrants at its 3,600 stores in the United States.

[Tight_rope]

28. Just a $11million dollars slap on the hand for Wal-Mart!

[NorthernSpy]

23. Good! This upcoming bitch-n-moan fest will alienate Americans...

... even further.

[EFerrari]

24. I wonder how many families this has busted up and how many

American citizens are impacted.

After these workers have been used like toilet paper to wipe our national @ss.

Good going, Junior! You made your base happy today!