ICE finds 300 people doing jobs Americans won’t do in Iowa meatpacking plant
posted at 5:50 pm on May 12, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
Send to a Friend |
printer-friendly
ICE agents hauled hundreds of suspected illegal aliens out of an Iowa meatpacking plant today after two years of complaints. Agriprocessors will likely place a lot of ads in the Des Moines Register for open positions after losing most of its staff, assuming that its executives can keep themselves out of jail for violations of immigration laws. Agriprocessors is, or rather was, the largest employer in northern Iowa:
At least 300 people were arrested today at the Agriprocessors, Inc. meat packing plant, federal officials said.
The operation, which targeted people who illegally used other persons Social Security numbers and were in the U.S. illegally, was the largest of its kind in Iowa, said Claude Arnold, a special agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The workers arrested so far were interviewed by agents with the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Public Health Service. Public health officials were included to ensure that their humanitarian needs were being met, said U.S. District Attorney Matt M. Dummermuth. …
A total of 16 local, state and federal agencies, led by ICE, joined the investigation that began last October. Among them was the U.S. Marshals Service, the Iowa Department of Public Safety, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, the Waterloo Police Department and the Postville Police Department.
Agents with ICE have received information about immigration violations at the plant over the past two years, according to a federal search warrant made public today. Authorities said they will release more details at another press conference tomorrow morning in Cedar Rapids.
Agriprocessors has a web site in which it claims that it has applicants lined up around the block when growth demands expansion. They also claim that most of their new-hires come from the families of existing employees, which puts today’s raid into some perspective. Once they started hiring illegals, apparently they tapped into resources for cheap labor rather than hire Iowans looking for work.
That’s not all. On another page, Agriprocessors holds itself and the community of Postville as a “model for integration of its different nationalities”. They proudly note that their work force consists of nationals from 30 different nations, which certainly would be a legitimate point of pride if they came to the US legally, which seems in question at the moment. Another example of the Agriprocessor boost to the local economy is shown in housing prices on the same page, which bragged that the median asking price for a single-family house was $33,800 in 2000, and that the average apartment rented for $175 a month. There’s also this:
Following the pattern of previous waves of U.S. immigration, many immigrants who move to Postville choose to live with relatives or friends. Some make this choice to save money, which they may be sending to relatives in their home countries; others double-up while looking for other housing options.
Doesn’t exactly sound like heaven, does it? The established residents of Postville probably didn’t appreciate the depressed real-estate values, especially since Agriprocessors didn’t feel the need to hire locally with all of the families traveling from 30 nations to double- and triple-up in houses and apartments. Small wonder the feds got so many complaints about the firm.
As much as 60% of Agriprocessors’ staff may find themselves in custody after today. I’d say the job market in Northern Iowa just improved dramatically.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Stinkers.
Maquis on May 12, 2008 at 5:53 PM
Why is it so easy to use a fake/stolen SS number? I mean, why even have them if they are so easily faked/stolen? Anyone know?
VolMagic on May 12, 2008 at 5:57 PM
Too bad they were meatpacking and not turning corn into ethanol. I guess those companies can afford to pay Americans high wages, since the government (i.e. me and you) pay the subsidies.
kirkill on May 12, 2008 at 5:57 PM
Doing the jobs American companies won’t hire Americans to do.
hadsil on May 12, 2008 at 5:59 PM
Great question! I guess no one bothers to check them. Makes you wonder where the money goes from FICA, doesn’t it?
Ed Morrissey on May 12, 2008 at 5:59 PM
Ed is right. This is the best economic stimulus northern IA could ever hope to see. Better than bailouts, better than $300 “rebates.”
fourstringfuror on May 12, 2008 at 6:05 PM
ICE has the manpower to make several busts like this every day but they don’t do it. And it’s not like they didn’t know about this place. They could repeat todays results several fold tomorrow by busting the chicken processing plants in Minnesota…but they won’t.
Buddahpundit on May 12, 2008 at 6:05 PM
This is more than just an illegal immigration raid IMO.
16 local, state and federal agencies involved. 600 to 700 arrests out of 1,000 - 1,050 employees. Possible meth lab and employees going around with guns? Sounds like bigtime organized crime to me.
RushBaby on May 12, 2008 at 6:07 PM
Some do.
Eat donuts, not meat!
MamaAJ on May 12, 2008 at 6:07 PM
This is where I part company with anti-immigration hardliners. These are jobs most Americans won’t do or can’t do, and the fact that remains that we don’t have enough temporary work visas issued to meet demand.
We need to secure our borders and build the goddamned fence, but we also need to meet the needs of businesses (large and small) who rely on these labor pools to function.
Buy Danish on May 12, 2008 at 6:11 PM
Why is it so easy to use a fake/stolen SS number? I mean, why even have them if they are so easily faked/stolen? Anyone know?
VolMagic on May 12, 2008 at 5:57 PM
It’s actually impossible to have a fake SS number that the government would be unaware of. The goverment is in on the crime.
You could go to the Social Security Administration and hit a key on their computer system and have an instant list of all multiples along with the addresses of all of their employers. They could bust them all tomorrow if they wanted to. That would be Day 1 of the Buddahpundit Administration.
Buddahpundit on May 12, 2008 at 6:11 PM
Maybe the non-immigrant workforce in Des Moines can cling a little less bitterly to their guns and Bibles now that some jobs have opened up.
Cicero43 on May 12, 2008 at 6:11 PM
Considering that employment in Iowa already sucks pretty bad, this could be a boon to actual citizens.
MadisonConservative on May 12, 2008 at 6:12 PM
It’s things like this that make me wonder why a mathematically secure, well done national ID is somehow way worse than the crackerjack SSN system we’ve got right now.
I mean pragmatically, it’d be better to have a legit working ID than the ad-hoc de facto ID we have in the SSN.
apollyonbob on May 12, 2008 at 6:12 PM
The most important job Americans won’t do is enforce our immigration laws.
EJDolbow on May 12, 2008 at 6:13 PM
My small town Wyoming has experienced MAJOR influx of Illegials, almost all of which can be traced to two towns in Mexico. The gorcery stor wires $40,000 per day to Mexico and the banks top that. THat is a lot of sales tax our county is not getting.
There was an article in our weekly paper this week about how the illegals are “disgruntled” with being arrested for driving without a license. They want to know how they are supposed to get to work without a license, and how they can avoid being arrested for this violation. One even asked why they don’t have more rights. All these questions were asked to a panel of law enforcement. BRAZEN!!!
Hunt035 on May 12, 2008 at 6:17 PM
The more I hear stories like this the angrier I get.
This should not be newsworthy—They should not be here! Send them home. ALL OF THEM.
woodswalking1 on May 12, 2008 at 6:17 PM
The same inefficient bloated government will be making it controlling it and keeping track of it. Think TSA, how’s that working for us?
Oldnuke on May 12, 2008 at 6:18 PM
Hunt has increased my ire. I think my head is about to explode!
woodswalking1 on May 12, 2008 at 6:18 PM
Americans will do these jobs. If they won’t then the business doesn’t belong in the US. Let them go to where the labor is and raise the chickens in Mexico.
Buddahpundit on May 12, 2008 at 6:19 PM
Buy Danish, these are jobs Americans won’t do for minimum wage and no benefits. But Americans will gladly do them for $12-$15 an hour plus health insurance. I’d gladly pay an extra 50 cents a pound for meat to have US citizens earning decent wages.
funky chicken on May 12, 2008 at 6:31 PM
How come there aren’t lots of businesses taking this model and advertising that they are 100% legal workforce? Maybe because it isn’t a deal to many people and certainly not enough of an advantage over cheap labor to justify being 100% illegal-free.
Viscount_Bolingbroke on May 12, 2008 at 6:39 PM
Americans will perform these jobs, but will require a reasonable wage, not LESS than the minimum, which is what these folks were getting.
If this company is doing what Smithfield did, half their pay didn’t even get to them. At Smithfield they had to kick back a chunk to the company.
dogsoldier on May 12, 2008 at 6:40 PM
They build the fence and do this every day for six months and we won’t have an illegal immigration problem worth mentioning.
TexasDan on May 12, 2008 at 6:41 PM
These are jobs most Americans won’t do or can’t do.
Bravo Sierra. Americans will do these jobs, These humps didn’t want to hire them. They used illegal immigrants, too afarid to call the police, to hide other criminal activity. The bosses and the $h!t-bags in Personnel should both do hard time.
Don Carne on May 12, 2008 at 6:41 PM
Better idea. Take your money and open your own business, then you can pay what you want and charge what you want. Everywhere there have been raids, there have been lines of people wanting the jobs, without your 50 cents.
The idea is to stop employers from hiring illegals, if they can not continue to do business without them, well, too bad. They need a better business model.
Wade on May 12, 2008 at 6:42 PM
At nearly 11% for black unemployment, and their “savior” wants to protect illegal immigrants that take their jobs.
Support the one that wants to destroy you…good idea.
right2bright on May 12, 2008 at 6:48 PM
McCain has the answer just make all legal then they won’t have to round em up, course housing prices will still suck drugs and drunk drivers run rampant, and schools and hospitals, will still be over run but Juan mcCain will get the Grand Old Party some votes.
Same senario in any Iowa town with a packing plant but no one listens to white, hard working, gun and God loving AMERICANS anymore.
Time for a good old fashion Boston Tea party except this time throw the politicians in the Potomac.
dhunter on May 12, 2008 at 6:48 PM
Wrong, there are lazy people who will not work for minimum wage. And no minimum wage should be forced to give benefits.
Min wage is for entry, not to make a life. The idea is to start them low, weed out the losers, and the workers move up the ladder to a better paying job. Meanwhile the ones who “won’t work” for an entry level rate, let them stay as the bottom feeders.
If a company can’t find acceptable employees at minimum wage, they will raise the pay until the acceptable people apply.
right2bright on May 12, 2008 at 6:52 PM
Some wealthy party members and their free spending friends need cheap labor so they think they are cheating China.
Americans can’t do these jobs because ….? Too cerebral to do them? Don’t want to get dirty? Don’t want to work for illegal alien wages?
The rich of America demand cheap illegal immigrant labour. People who are weak, meek and mobile can be exploited easier than home grown Americans. Simple as that. The whining of the middle/lower class means squat, never did.
BL@KBIRD on May 12, 2008 at 7:04 PM
Is there any reason to believe that the executives of this company will be legally prosecuted for their crimes? Does that ever happen? Applying the laws that hold those traitors responsible for their actions would send a loud message that would go a long way toward fixing the problem. But the Bush administration has never wanted to fix the problem. This raid is merely cosmetic. Cleaning out congress could also help solve the problem. I know my Feinstein and my Boxer need their Senate seats to continue to get government contracts for their husbands’ companies. But I’m willing to let them face the real world if it improves America.
snaggletoothie on May 12, 2008 at 7:05 PM
Has anyone ever considered that if or when all the “illegals” are made “legal” then they won’t want or need to work for crap wages and no benefits either. So then what happens? Same ole same ole…. There will always be an illegal problem because many business owners have gotten greedy and lazy. If your business depends on illegal labor then your business sucks! I am a business owner here in Texas and we have had to stop doing business with suppliers and have fired people when we’ve found them to be illegal. This country ran well (arguably better than it does now) for many years without illegals. To me, depending on desperate, illegal people is only slightly less disgusting than slavery. If you really want to end illegal immigration interpret the 14th Ammendment the way it was intended. Making illegals legal will only beget a new class of illegals.
mrsmwp on May 12, 2008 at 7:20 PM
Employers are not currently required to verify that you are actually the owner of the SS# you supply them. All they are required to do is fill out the I-9 form proving you are legal to be employed in the USA. The documents required to complete the I-9 do not have to be verified as valid by the employer. The SS Administration has a Web Site that employers can access to verify you are actually the owner of the SS#, BUT THEY ARE NOT REQUIRED TO USE IT.
The entire I-9 process has always been a farce.
The employers know they are employing illegals but do not care. They are filling the openings they have and getting away with paying lower wages, that is all that matters.
Take away the incentive to employ illegals the problem will begin to solve itself. End of story.
Bogeyfre on May 12, 2008 at 7:25 PM
That really caught my eye, too. There are much more nefarious crimes associated with the illegal immigrant slave trade than most of us will ever know.
sigh.
I wonder what would happen if we sealed our borders, enforced existing laws, and cut welfare for the able-bodied simultaneously?
NTWR on May 12, 2008 at 7:31 PM
I wonder if they used my SS#???
DfDeportation on May 12, 2008 at 7:33 PM
Debbie Schlussel from last week predicting this show - “Mystery” in Iowa: Another Phony Mass ICE Show Raid Seems to Be in the Works.
And of course, I’ll lay odds the “employers” of the illegals, the big criminals, get off scot free.
MB4 on May 12, 2008 at 7:35 PM
The governor of NC is begging them to come here and get an education at a tax-payer funded technical college! Come one, come all to North Carolina!
South Carolina is on the verge of cracking down HARD on employers and illegals. I wonder which way they’ll all “migrate”.
SouthernGent on May 12, 2008 at 7:41 PM
What?! Our illegals should be working in ethanol production, not meatpacking. Someone alert the Republican nominee so we can get this straightened out right away.
Spirit of 1776 on May 12, 2008 at 7:43 PM
You forgot to add the part, about how Americans will not do it for the low pay that the company wants to pay illegals to do it for.
And good, I want people to make great pay. Especially when it is paid to Americans, and that money stays here. Paying people low wages is not good, I thought we all want to be prosperous. Who wants some low paid underclass to exist, that just wires money out of the country?
These meat packing plants paid more money per hour 20 years ago then they do now, because then they employed Americans, not illegal low wage labor.
firepilot on May 12, 2008 at 7:53 PM
I’d chance a guess that no one is counting the money coming in. I mean why does a person need to file a tax return? I mean shouldn’t they know?
- The Cat
MirCat on May 12, 2008 at 7:56 PM
A business does it because their competition does it. In the glass industry we would have to re-bid proposals based on pennies in order to land contracts. You could argue quality and service until you were blue in the face but when a track builder got a bid for a few bucks less per house he took it.
It is a survival game, like all capitalism, except here the government non-enforcement policy is the driving force.
First hold the government responsible. Then business. Then you can go after those ‘lazy’ Americans.
Limerick on May 12, 2008 at 8:01 PM
Straight to a pork barrel. I had an issue with the SSA like that several years ago, multiple names with my SSN. The FICA didn’t go to my balance (as much as I was hoping it would).
Limerick on May 12, 2008 at 8:06 PM
Numbers USA has some good information on the SAVE Act.
A freshman Democrat then praised the system… he won’t be getting invited to the next party.
Go see if your CongressCritter is signed on or not!
NTWR on May 12, 2008 at 8:07 PM
If you don’t file a tax return it doesn’t take the IRS any time at all to send you one of those ‘dear taxpayer’ letters. If they keep such good track of SSNs why can’t the SSA?
Limerick on May 12, 2008 at 8:09 PM
If it is there like it is in S.W. Florida then the employer isn’t paying s.s., or workman’s comp or withholding taxes because they know they are untraceable so they pocket the money. That practice has cost thousands of legal citizens their jobs here. A bunch of unethical employers here especially in the construction industry. Before you ask, I.C.E has been told for years, They do not care. It has really hit the economy hard here of course unless you are a pimp or crack dealer, their business from the illegals is going great.
historian on May 12, 2008 at 8:33 PM
McCain weighs in to decry the Agriprocessors raid in 5…4….3…2….
Valiant on May 12, 2008 at 8:51 PM
“Won’t.” Incomplete statement. Without supplying the compensation, there is no way to verify the statement. I’d pack meat, pick lettuce, clean toilets, landscape, or anything else, for the right price.
“Can’t”? You, er, can’t be serious. I’d be willing to bet that there are at least some Americans, somewhere, who would be capable of performing these jobs.
misterpeasea on May 12, 2008 at 8:54 PM
My understanding:
They use stolen identification and SS numbers. And the employer, if it checks, gets told by the government that the name and SS match and the SS number is valid, or not.
As long as the illegal doesn’t incur bad debts on the SSN, the actual holder of the SSN doesn’t know.
misterpeasea on May 12, 2008 at 8:58 PM
Duncan Hunter has signed onto the SAVE act.
Vntnrse on May 12, 2008 at 9:13 PM
I worked as a meat cutter once. As the new man, I was working the easy cuts of meat, and of course, ground beef. It didn’t bother me any. I would have stayed doing that work but for one thing, I wanted more money. Being a mercenary, I went with a job that paid more, instead of staying where I was.
Perhaps that’s what American’s won’t do, stay at a job for the rest of their lives if something better opens up.
Damn that ladder of opportunity.
Snake307 on May 12, 2008 at 9:19 PM
The illegals don’t ask for health insurance, vacations, OT or other benefits we expect. It’s worth it to companies to hire them, and when the bosses get busted, it’s still cheaper to pay the fines. It’s not going to change… cheap labor reigns.
leftnomore on May 12, 2008 at 9:25 PM
“Makes you wonder where the money goes from FICA”
It goes into the Trust Fund where it is promptly grabbed by Jack Murtha and given to people back home who kick back 10% of it as campaign contributions.
Basically, it funds the deficit.
crosspatch on May 12, 2008 at 10:08 PM
Google “Operation Wetback” and see how this was handled in the early 50’s….Why can’t we deport them as has been done 50 yrs ago????
b4lucy on May 12, 2008 at 10:32 PM
This is where I part company with anti-immigration hardliners. These are jobs most Americans won’t do or can’t do, and the fact that remains that we don’t have enough temporary work visas issued to meet demand.
BS, If I remember correctly after raids in Arkansas and North Carolina, citizens with good papers lined up around the block to apply for these “undoable” jobs. The dead tree media won’t cover this because it blows their whole anti- American bias to hell.
Dadzilla on May 12, 2008 at 10:57 PM
Another reminder of one of the most wage destructive results of illegal immigration.
Meatpacking was on of the few blue collar middle class jobs left.
Wages twenty years ago could range over twenty dollars an hour.
Since a strong invasion of illegal workers, average meatpacking wages have dropped rather than rise like other middle class jobs have, as low as eight dollars an hour for those same jobs twenty years ago.
Thank John Gay and his enablers.
http://charlotte.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A40866
Speakup on May 12, 2008 at 11:44 PM
If they can’t hire illegals then they will, like Tyson, resort to importing Muslim Somali refugees who have even less of a clue how to live in the US, assimilate, and become citizens. Do a search in RRW and see how many more thousands of Somali Muslims Tyson is responsible for importing.
DerKrieger on May 13, 2008 at 12:16 AM
The so called cheap labor is only cheap for the employer, not for the taxpayer.
Johan Klaus on May 13, 2008 at 1:32 AM
Corporate Slime enabled by Bush.
Just another
American citizennativist crying out in the wilderness here.Feedie on May 13, 2008 at 3:43 AM
There used to be a video here of a February, 2008, TV news story about TWENTY pallet manufacturers around the SF Bay Area getting raided by Calif. OSHA. Story title is still there, maybe it’s just my computer having a problem.
Workers were being paid 4 to 5 dollars an hour, safety devices removed from power saws, forced to pay rent for sleeping on mud floors, etc., etc. One owner could not speak English, and through a Spanish interpreter said he didn’t know he was breaking any laws (sic).
I immediately called ICE, they said they were “tracking the situation” but to this date have done nothing.
fred5678 on May 13, 2008 at 3:51 AM
Speak for yourself. I have a family to feed. It’s hard enough to do with existing prices. Why should my family be forced to cut back so that someone else’s family can have more?
What are you, a socialist or something?
MarkTheGreat on May 13, 2008 at 8:40 AM
Another point.
Postville, prior to the raid, had a population of around 2400. How many of you want to move to a town that small?
There are some Americans who love small town living. But there are many more who don’t.
MarkTheGreat on May 13, 2008 at 8:55 AM
Limerick,
You are correct about the competition, but you forget that not all competitors are local. Many are foreign.
Is it better to have low wage jobs here in the states, or for those factories to move overseas completely?
MarkTheGreat on May 13, 2008 at 8:57 AM
The unemployment rate in Iowa is bad???
Not that I’ve ever noticed. It’s been well below the national average for years.
MarkTheGreat on May 13, 2008 at 8:58 AM
The SS# bought, sold, and traded are real SS numbers. When an employer receives a SS# they are only calling to verify that the SS# is valid. The name, address, or any other relevant information is left out of the verification process.
gabriel sutherland on May 13, 2008 at 12:28 PM