U.S. Gets Tough With
Undocumented ImmigrantsBy David Rosen
07 November, 2007
Countercurrents.orgA recent series of raids by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) service, which is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, signals a new era of anti-immigrant hysteria in America.
In September in the New York City suburb of Nassau County, ICE undertook a massive raid to capture gang members. It declared the raids a success, claiming that of the 186 arrested, 157 were gang members or associates.
However, county executive Thomas Suozzi denounced the raid, insisting that only “eight were active gang members and one is a gang associate." He added, "The result was that many wrong residential addresses were raided, and in one instance, ICE sought a 28-year-old defendant using a photograph taken when he was [a] seven year old boy.”
Not only were American citizens and legal residents picked up, but in one case, a house was searched for a man who had moved out in 2003; the family living there were U.S. citizens, except for a child who was a legal resident awaiting naturalization. Suozzi, joined by county police commissioner Lawrence Mulvey, is calling for a federal investigation of the raid.
This raid was but the latest in a series of ICE anti-immigrant actions taking place throughout the U.S. over the last couple of months. In another, more than 1,300 alleged criminal illegal immigrants were rounded up during sweeps in Southern California.
Raids extend beyond alleged criminals. For example, federal agents picked up fifty-one workers at an Iowa egg farm. They also raided Swift & Company meatpacking plants in Nebraska and five other states. In Reno, Nevada, upwards of one hundred suspected illegal workers were arrested in raids at McDonald's restaurants. Reno’s mayor, Bob Cashell, noted that “some of the people who were arrested and picked up -- they have children." Exasperated, he bemoaned, "The [children] don't know where their mama or their daddy is. That's not right."
A similar scenario was played out when immigration agents raided meatpacking plants, egg farms and a leather factory in New Bedford, Massachusetts. And in the San Francisco area, ICE agents were spotted prowling for undocumented immigrants at East Bay supermarkets, day-laborer sites, Home Depot and Wal-Mart outlets and even public libraries and schools.
Even more disturbing, in New Haven, Connecticut, two days after the city approved I.D. cards for undocumented residents, an ICE raid resulted in the arrest of at least twenty-nine workers. Although denied by ICE, many residents insist that the raid was a punitive action, a reprisal for the city’s commitment to civil liberties. According to mayor John DeStefano, “ICE entered the home with no warrants, they searched every room in the house, they had all the occupants, including the children, in the living room, they separated the men from the women and even had the children on the floor.”
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The raids are part of an intensified anti-immigrant upsurge spreading throughout the U.S. The anti-immigrant sentiment is rationalized by a false association of undocumented immigrants with the war on terror. In the wake of “9/11,” the Bush administration has waved the flag of terror to invade Iraq, suspend habeas corpus and engage in warrantless eavesdropping. Those who committed the 9/11 attack entered the U.S. legally and, to date, not one arrested undocumented immigrant has been charged (let alone convicted) of terrorism.
The anti-immigrant upsurge finds it voice in a growing chorus of inflammatory anti-immigrant commentators not only in newspaper columns and conservative websites, but also on the Fox News channel and, most notably, CNN’s primetime program, “Lou Dobbs Tonight.” The rising anti-immigrant sentiment comes on the heels of Congress’ failed efforts to pass Bush-administration backed legislation to address immigration -- and the earlier mass mobilizations that took place throughout the country in opposition to the anti-immigrant bills.
Nevertheless, the raids raised considerable concern throughout the country. David Leopold, a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association's task force on ICE raids, railed against them, "This new policy of immigration reform by law enforcement is going to wreak havoc on our communities, wreak havoc on our economy."
Others warn that ICE agents illegally detain, search and harass Latin-looking people due to their appearance, thus violation various U.S. Constitutional rights. Lee Rowland, of Nevada’s ACLU, warns that “ICE locks up individuals with no criminal history and warehouses them in detention centers."
Many others, including representatives from organized labor, immigrant-rights groups, antiwar organizations, and African-American and Latino/a groups as well as Christian, Muslim and Jewish congregations, have called for an end to these raids. For example, Bishop Felipe C. Teixeira of the Immigration Pastoral Center of Massachusetts denouced the raids, opposing them as “the face of racism and discrimination. No human being is illegal.”
* * *
One of the little discussed consequences of ICE raids is their economic implications. For example, in the wake of the raids at the Swift meatpacking plants, James Mintert, an agricultural economist at Kansas State University, warned that “continued massive immigration raids would cut cattle prices paid to cattle feeders and cattle producers while raising the cost of beef for consumers.”
Similarly, farmers in upstate New York blame a growing immigrant farm labor shortage on a dramatic rise in immigration enforcement. What happens to meatpacking and agriculture will like happen to other labor-intensive industry, like the hotel industry, the construction industry and the food-services industry.
U.S. organized labor has spoken out against these raids. Change to Win, a coalition of seven unions representing six million organized workers, condemned ICE actions. Responding to a raid on the homes of workers at the Smithfield meatpacking plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina, it declared: “It becomes clearer every day that the Bush Administration has decided that pleasing its base with acts of political theater is more important than finding a real solution on immigration. And the human cost of that decision becomes clearer every day as well.”
Even some conservatives have warned that ICE actions could undermine efforts to pass Congressional legislation aimed at increasing the number of “guest workers” by 400,000 immigrants annually. Between 1942 to 1964, the U.S. operated what was known as the “bracero” program of recruited temporary immigrants to work the agricultural fields. Unfortunately, these mostly Mexican workers had no legal rights and were often exploited, cheated and even deported if they tried to strike. The program was finally repealed through the efforts of Cesar Chavez and the farm workers.
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Estimates vary as to the size of the undocumented immigrant population in America. Extrapolating from U.S. Census Bureau data, the Pew Hispanic Center estimates that as of 2006 there were 11.5 to 12 million nondocumented foreigners residing in the country. Pew estimates that two-thirds of this population had been in the U.S. for ten years or less. Further, it estimates that nearly half (49%) were adult males, about one-third (35%) were adult females and approximately 16 percent are children.
Pew also estimates that approximately 7 million of these immigrants were employed, making up nearly 5 percent of the U.S. civilian labor force. More revealing, undocumented immigrant workers make up a significant share of some key industries, including, farming (24%), cleaning services (17%), construction (14%) and food preparation (12%).
The U.S. is gearing up for its quadrennial blood sport, the presidential elections, and the issue of undocumented immigrants has already become a major political topic. The Democrats and Republican candidates are split over the issue. For example, Democratic candidate Bill Richardson (New Mexico governor and a Mexican-American) has come out in opposition to ICE raids and has called for comprehensive immigration reform. However, the Republican candidate Tom Tancredo (Colorado congressman) champions tougher border enforcement and increased immigration regulation.
ICE raids of alleged undocumented immigrants are likely to increase as the country readies for the November 2008 election. These raids will serve two purposes. One is legal, to apprehend undocumented foreigners. The other, however, is far more questionable. Under Bush-administration direction, these raids will serve the political purpose of inflaming anti-immigrant xenophobia. Whether such a nationalistic, anti-immigrant fear campaign will be strong enough to affect the election outcome remains to be seen.
David Rosen is an author and commentator based in New York City. He can be reached at [email protected].
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