Charges for employing illegal alien workers hit higher up the food chain
I hope this investigation goes higher up the corporate ladder, but it seems to me this is a decent start:
Two supervisors at an Iowa meatpacking plant that was raided by federal immigration agents in May were arrested and charged with encouraging people to live in the United States illegally.
Juan Carlos Guerrero-Espinoza, 35, and Martin De La Rosa-Loera, 43, were also charged Thursday with and aiding and abetting the possession and use of fraudulent identification.
That’s the May Agriprocessors bust in Postville, Iowa, about which complaints were lodged that only the workers faced charges, but no top brass. I’m not sure how high these two supervisors were on the food chain, but that’s a step in the right direction.
The WSJ called the Agriprocessors raid “Immigration theater”, about which I remarked:
If the ICE raid in Iowa was “Kabuki theater”, I liked it. I give it two thumbs up. I’d like to see them open shows in every small town and big city across the country.
Hey, I’m a great patron of the arts.
I like Act II even better.
As Michael Ledeen says about Iran, Faster, please!
______________
UPDATE: AS regards the struck-through section below: Umm, oops.
That’s not the Mexican flag. I should have known that was too bad to be true.
As Emily Litella might say, never mind.
Please commence blogosphere-wide flaming.
Thanks to “fretless”.
MORE: I went to the Agriprocessors site to look for a graphic to use on the front page. I thought their front page “splash screen” was…unfortunate. Here’s a screencap; I’ve highlighted an interesting detail:
Is that Mexican flag really the best PR to have on their corporate website right now?
___________________
{Post by See-Dubya}
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Progress, things are beginning to move in the right direction.
Wow – they even have the donkey show on their website – how cute!
Meat packing, Mexican illegals, Meth – its a package deal.
Good riddance to bad rubbish and lets hope the management that looked the other way gets busted too.
But, what’s with their hyphenated last names? What did their husbands think about it? Inquiring minds want to know.
BSR
I see that Mexican flag and it is $hit to my eyes…
OMG help us all!!!
That is the flag of “Mr Poopy fingers” who took all the tomatoes and whatever away. This is so sad…it is a real clash of cultures… and I am afraid we loose.
too funny! goot one.
Homegrown’s all right with me!!!
We’ve got 4 tomato plants in pots and one in a topsy-turvy. They are nourished with Miracle Grow and water.
MMMM-MMMM good!
I do wonder if the beef from the Kroger recall came from there.
um … that’s not the Mexican Flag.
Oops.
2 supervisors… oh goodie! at this rate we might get to the directors in 15 years or so…
Shut the plant down, take all the HR types away & let them plea bargain… I wonder who they will give up.
you’re welcome.
Dictionary.com defines Kabuki Theater as:
But, I don’t care what the WSJ (or anyone else for that matter) calls it; it’s our government doing what it’s supposed to do.
Though it does seem pretty wasteful to wait until the cows are in the cornfield before repairing the fence. I suppose it’s the crab fishing way; put the bait in the pot, wait until the crabs climb in, then get them all at once.
What part of “get a completed W-9 form for the new employees” did Juan and Martin two-last-names not understand?
I’ve had to provide proof of eligibility of employment at a job I’ve been at 10+ years. The only reason this doesn’t get done at the meat packing plants is because management looks the other way. Most legitimate businesses insist the employees show proof of eligibility. This is bull and the leadership team needs to be held accountable.
H’mmm. Rising unemployment. Why don’t they hire US citizens or legal immigrants. Then the unemployment in that area will go down and the local economy will improve.
A winning idea for the Republicans would be pressuring Mexico to provide some kind of welfare or much better yet,jobs, for its poor rather than just sending them North. I understand why the greater majority come here,but no nation can support unfettered immigration.
I hope the upper management and owners of this company are prosecuted as well. Hopefully that would send a chilling effect to those who hire illegals.
Well I guess that since we are at war after all, we need to start to act like it, even if the price of rope goes up.
“They even have a donkey show…” hahahahaha That’s funny.
The only difference between Los Angels and Tia Juana, Mexico, TJ had the donkey shows and Los Angeles doesn’t to the best of my Knowledge. But you never know what’s going on in the back yards in Easy L.A. or South Central L.A. You’ll also find more people speaking English on the streets of TJ than you’ll find on the streets of Los Angeles.
One thing bothers me. Why during the last year of the Bush administration are they just starting to enforce our federal immigration laws ?
Why aren’t the feds enforcing our federal immigration laws at ground zero ?
That would be the Los Angeles area where we have millions of illegal aliens and thousands of employers breaking our federal laws.
When are the feds going to go after those cities and elected officials who aid and abet illegal aliens like the city of Los Angeles, San Francisco and elected officials like Los Angeles Mayor VillLaRaza, S.F. Mayor Newsome, and law enforcement officials like L.A.P.D.’s Chief Bratton.
Here in California/Mexifornia, city, county and state officials will say illegal immigration is a federal issue. But any time the feds try to enforce our federal laws in the state, our pro Mexican elected officials are the first to bitch and complain call for the feds to back off.
When are the feds going to go after these people who aid illegal alien criminals ?
#13 CR said:A winning idea for the Republicans would be pressuring Mexico …
Which Republicans?—-
You mean –like– La Raza-Mc Cain?!!!!!
I hope a lot of them go higher up the corporate ladder.
I have been watching two cases in Houston. A raid at Shipley Donuts in April and Action Rags USA in June. The owner, an employee and an ex-employee, two undocumented company managers from Mexico, and a fifth defendant, a Houston native, have been charged.
(Oops hit the wrong button.)
To continue, the defense attorney (for Action Rags) is calling it a “political issue”.
And from a Houston Chronicle editorial:
What part of illegal do they not understand?
Yeah. Woulda’ been nice to see a Hat Tip to you!
Frankly, I’m very surprised they didn’t acknowledge you!
Who the hell cares?
Hispanics typically have two last names, the fathers last name and the mothers maiden name. Women will drop the mothers maiden name, shift the fathers last name to the end, and insert the husbands last name once married. It’s just a cultural thing.
I hope this will continue but i doubt it will. When are the going to come to south Ga. and do something about them down here ? Ga. has all kinds of laws that are ignored.
Not the Mexican flag, but obviously designed with a purpose. That purpose being … to make illegals feel wanted by designing a flag that resembles the Mexican flag.
I think your initial posting was close enough.
Crap. Iowa. Should have clicked Fretless’ link through, instead of just looking at the blown up pic. I thought it was a corporate flag with green and red side stripes.
Cowgirl,I have been following the rag plant story also.Check out the last names of the owners,sure sound Arab to me.The Chronicle made it sound like ICE was killing babies.
BSR (and anyone else wondering)-
Typically Mexicans use (father’s name)-(mother’s name) for a last name. When the American press uses them in a story, it typically just uses the mother’s name (against American convention). Why? I dunno?
It appears to me that the only arrests made where the people who were using false I.D. I’m sure there were more illegals there.
Arrest and Deport Them All.
Including All Hyphenated Americans.
Thanks for asking!
God Bless America!
If that were here in AZ rather than Iowa that would have counted as the first infraction under our illegal employer law … in other words … Strike One …
Upon being found guilty of knowingly employing illegals … the penalty includes fines and carries with it a 10 day supsension of the state issued business license …
If the company doesn’t learn and is caught a second time … Strike Two …
That results in an even larger fine and permanent loss of the business license …
End of story … you are out … there is no Strike Three …
Get rid of the job magnets, the law breaking supporters and the enablers and you get rid of the reasons for coming here illegally …
ChicagoRob asked, “Why don’t they hire US citizens or legal immigrants. Then the unemployment in that area will go down and the local economy will improve.”
The answer is, because for the last 120 years the most hazardous, undesirable jobs (meat packing plants, asbestos mills, etc.) have generally gone to unskilled immigrants. This is because unskilled immigrants (legal or illegal) usually come from situations involving poverty and exploitation, and they are conditioned to be more interested in survival than in causing trouble by protesting wages, working conditions, etc.
That being said, I have no sympathy for those who perpetuate exploitation, or who attempt to “solve” documentation problems by forgery or identity theft. I hope these supervisors, and collaborators further up the management ladder of the company, are prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
Sierra Hotel! Finally a change I can believe in! Know if the “grumpy old man” could get behind this type of program I could actually hold my nose to vote for him.
Until some of the right people in collusion with the busted supervisors such as the folks in Human Resources and upper management (that obviously turned a blind eye to this criminal activity) this is still dinner theatre to me. I want all illegal invaders out of this country and by taking away the jobs magnet by prosecuting employers that knowingly hire illegals or refuse/fail to verify an employees identity along with suspension of all government aid (a guy can dream), those that do not self-deport should be very easy to identify, round-up, and deport.
My mind just juxtaposed the Mexican flag and the one in the agri ad–
the green of M. is substituted by our blue ie; blue- white – red– instead of green – white – red
clever of them :
So all it takes for “no border” officials— on both sides – is to change one color>>>>>>>>
Something for La Raza – John and his marketing people to think about
And the donkey gets great gas mileage too!
Um, See-Dubya *did* acknowledge me in the update when he corrected the error. And I appreciate it.
The Gov’t has to fine the company HARD, like $100k per infraction. If the process for getting Legal immigrants is onerous, the companies should force the Gov’t to get it fixed (like support unseating Congressmen if no action).
The only thing that doesn’t fly is ignoring the law.
Oh the irony, the upstanding company is hiring!
Agriprocessors is an equal opportunity employer. Roughly half of its employees were born in Central America, Europe and Israel and many are in management positions.
Every Agriprocessors employee must provide the proper citizenship/immigration documentation and all Agri employees are reported to the federal government.
For what it’s worth, I think apacherat nailed it:
Busting a few dozen laborors at a meat packing plant in Iowa along with their supervisors is superficial. The real problem is elsewhere and much bigger.
I sometimes suspect the actual intent of this bust was to garner sympathy and support for the “real victims” of immigration law: the poor, exploited undocumented laborer upon whose sholders the whole of the US economy rests. Do you wonder if DHS gets surprised by the overwhelming SUPPORT actions like this receive?
Michelle has done an excellent job of documenting the problem, and the Government’s complete lack of faith in correcting it. I’m tired of my tax dollars leveraged against the proceeds of an underground, black market economy being used to support the corrupt and dispotic government of Mexico – a country otherwise Rich with abundant natural resource and a strong, vibrant, hard-working, and intelligent people.
We DON’T need “Comprehensive Immigration Reform”. We need to enforce existing immigration law To The Letter!
And I believe that the people of Mexico need that from us even more.
Interesting. The further up the cooporate ladder you go, the less likely you are to be held responsible for company misdeeds. This is one step up. We need officials with the stones to run up that ladder and knock them down. Hopefully the tide is turning, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
A little error correction:
I live in Iowa not far from where Agriprocessors is located.
1. The flag in question is the state flag of Iowa. See link for comparison.
http://cache.virtualtourist.com/1764283-Iowa_State_Flag-Iowa.gif
2. The owners of Agriprocessors are Hacidic Jews, not muslims. Agriprocessors is he larget Kosher beef processing plant in the US.
They should still be shut down for violating US immigration law.
It is sad, but I things are not going to get better. It is going to get worse and worse until we are finished as a great nation. We have just become too politically correct and are being overrun with “God’s children” as our leader McAmnesty is fond of calling the illegals. Maybe the answer is, “…and let God sort ‘em out.”
Which hotkey did you program for “Who the hell cares?”
Before the Mexicanization of the meat-packing industry in Iowa, those jobs were done by people born and raised in Iowa. In the 80s, you could make $15-20 an hour. You only have to pay illegal aliens half that much in 2008.
(and you don’t “just change one color” on the Iowa flag to get a Mexican flag–the symbol in the center is the state seal. The tri-color format was not chosen to look “Mexican”–it honors France, who sold Iowa to Thomas Jefferson in 1803 and we’re all damned grateful for it!! I appreciate everyone’s anti-illegal-alien zeal, but the refusal to take three seconds to look at a photo and read a weblink is disturbing.)
See! McShamnisty changed the state flag of Iowa to kind of sort of resemble Mexico’s if you are color blind and have an astigmatism! That’s why I am going to vote for Rosanne’s father!
Nice. Careful with that zyclon b.
-Sigh-
I wish we would pack up and send to the pokie the higher ups and send them there for a very long time. Two supervisors-big deal!
13,000 illegal aliens entering per day minus an occasional raid of a few hundred. Yep, immigration theater. Bush is a typical hustler who thinks he can fool everyone.