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More arrested at Swift plants
Immigration officials detain 19, including HR employee
12:00 AM CDT on Thursday, July 12, 2007
DallasNews.com (original article - click here)
Dianne Solís

Federal immigration agents revisited the Swift meatpacking plant in Cactus, Texas, and five others this week to make 19 arrests, including that of a human resources employee.

The human resources employee, Chris Lamb, worked at the Swift plant in Marshalltown, Iowa – where the largest enforcement action against a single employer began in early 2006 by agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Mr. Lamb was charged with harboring illegal immigrants, according to ICE.

In December, 1,297 workers were arrested in raids at Swift plants in six states. The Cactus plant in the Texas Panhandle was the scene of the largest raid. The action shed light on the growing practice by illegal immigrants of using authentic documents – borrowed, rented or stolen – to avoid detection in the hiring process.

Of the 19 arrests, seven occurred in Cactus, said Carl Rusnok, an ICE spokesman in Dallas, on Wednesday.

Officials with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union said agents did not appear to use the "same level of intimidation and overkill as they did" in December. The Dallas-based local and the Colorado-based local for the union both sued the federal government over the treatment of the detainees.

"Worksite law enforcement around identity and immigration issues is a symptom of a failed immigration system, and is not substitute for comprehensive reform," the Washington-based union said in a prepared statement.

by Dianne Solís