LAT: Arkansas Immigration Raid Reaches Beyond Workers

[DeepModem Mom]

Arkansas Immigration Raid Reaches Beyond Workers
Immigration agents in Arkansas were still at the plant as neighbors spoke out. It's not justice served, they said, it's a community disrupted.
By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Times Staff Writer
July 23, 2006


QUIET TOWN: Arkadelphia, Ark., is a city of 11,000 that has been drawing Latino immigrants for about a decade. In time, some formed friendships with longtime residents.
(Mike Wintroath / For The Times)

ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — The immigration agents arrived at the Petit Jean Poultry plant just before the 7:30 breakfast break, armed and dressed in khaki uniforms. They went straight to the room where more than 100 Mexican workers in tan smocks were cutting up chicken, then shouted in Spanish for everyone to freeze.

Some workers started crying. A few made quick cellphone calls, alerting relatives to care for children who would soon be left behind. The plant manager watched as 119 workers — half his day-shift crew — were bound with plastic handcuffs and taken to a detention center, from which most would be deported to Mexico....(W)hat happened after the raid last July came as a surprise to many people in this conservative Bible Belt region: Instead of feeling reassured that immigration laws were being enforced, many felt that their community had been disrupted.

The Petit Jean workers had come to be more than low-wage poultry processors. They were church friends, classmates and teammates in the local softball league. And so some residents responded to the raid by helping workers fight deportation, driving them to court and writing to lawmakers for help. Others donated money, food and clothing to the families of workers detained or sent back to Mexico.

Now, one year after agents arrived at the poultry plant, the Petit Jean crackdown shows the effects of an immigration raid can reach far beyond the illegal workers and businesses involved....The government's critics include Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee, Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln and prominent Arkadelphia citizens. Even officials charged with enforcing the law in Arkadelphia have criticized the raid for removing people who belonged to their community....

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-arkadelphia23jul23,0,5104196,full.story?coll=la-home-nation

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. In northern Arkansas,

the Hispanic workers at the Tyson plants are the major buyers of houses in a couple of small towns. I know that they have increased the businesses there, too. Haven't heard a word against them by any of the locals-in fact, several comment on how hard working the folks are. Not all of these workers are from Mexico; we have quite a few from Central America.

[cornermouse]

2. Then by all means, get rid of the immigration laws,

get rid of the border, and allow people to come and go as they please without interference.

Self-deleting because the rest could have gotten me into trouble, but things are not always as they appear and if there really IS an agent Mike, he should start looking into it now.

[unlawflcombatnt]

3. Employer Prosecution & H.R. 98

The sad thing about this story is that the employer gets off scott free by claiming he didn't know they were illegal, because they showed him alleged documents proving their legality, which he knew damn well were forgeries. But since no one can "prove" he knew they were forged, he gets away with it.

Of course, if he really wanted to check, he could have called the Social Security Administration. But then, he didn't really want to find out they were illegal, because then he couldn't have hired them, and he would have had to pay a higher wage to American workers to do the jobs.

That's why we need for Congress to pass H.R. 98, which provides a tamper-proof Social Security card with an electronic strip that employers must use to verify Social Security numbers. Then employers can't hide behind the lie that "I didn't know my employees weren't legal" or claim that they are only guilty of "being too trusting." (The reality is that these employers are only "guilty" of being too greedy.)

Below is a CRS Summary and link to H.R. 98. (Which has not passed into law, but is still under consideration.) In general, it mandates that employers verify Social Security numbers using a new, tamper-proof Social Security card with an electronic identification strip on it. Verification is mandatory before an employee is hired. Failure to verify violates the law and will be prosecuted via civil or criminal statute.


"H.R.98

Title: To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to enforce restrictions on employment in the United States of unauthorized aliens through the use of improved Social Security cards and an Employment Eligibility Database, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Dreier, David (introduced 1/4/2005) Cosponsors (57)

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:HR00098:@@@D&summ2=m&

Latest Major Action: 5/12/2005 House committee/subcommittee actions. Status: Subcommittee Hearings Held.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY AS OF:
1/4/2005--Introduced.

Illegal Immigration Enforcement and Social Security Protection Act of 2005 - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act to require inclusion of encrypted machine-readable electronic identification strips on Social Security cards.

Requires the Commissioner of Social Security to: (1) develop the strip in a manner that enables employers to access the Employment Eligibility Database (EED) established by this Act; and (2) transmit to the Secretary of Homeland Security necessary information from an individual's application for a Social Security card or number (as determined by the Secretary) for inclusion in the EED.

Directs the Secretary to establish and maintain the EED. Requires the EED to include data on the citizenship status and work and residency eligibility of noncitizens authorized to work in the United States.

Restricts access to EED information.

Prohibits individuals from commencing employment with a U.S. employer absent a Social Security card that meets the requirements of this Act and presentation of such card to the employer.

Prohibits employers from hiring individuals absent verification of identity and work authorization.

Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) assess penalties against employers who knowingly hire unauthorized workers or fail to comply with verification procedures; and (2) bring civil actions against those who fail to pay assessments or otherwise violate this Act. Establishes criminal penalties for such violations.

Mandates integration of Border Patrol and Federal Bureau of Investigation fingerprint databases.

States that nothing in this Act shall be construed to establish a national identification card."


unlawflcombatnt

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