It's Christmas: Round up the usual suspects
Earlier this year the House of Representatives was toying with a provision in its immigration bill to make it a felony for anyone to give aid or assistance to an immigrant in this country illegally. Had the law passed as it was originally written, there would be hundreds of new felons in Minnesota today after the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid in Worthington December 12.
Coincidentally — or maybe not so — the raid occurred on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico. So much for the U.S. government's faith-based initiatives.
At any rate, the hundreds of folks who have gone out of their way to lend assistance to the families of workers taken into custody would themselves suddenly be "illegals". Wouldn't that be fun?
What is perhaps most intriguing about the outcome of the raid on the Swift plant in Worthington is that the news media and popular opinion seem to be more on the side of the workers than the government. One might think that this could be fallout from a very nasty campaign season in which the immigration issue, while not front and center, did play an important role.
But it seems that Republicans and Democrats are pretty much on the same side when it comes to the raids. In fact, one citizen who was quite affronted by the whole affair was Worthington's bearded, motorcycle-riding Republican mayor, Al Oberloh. His message to the federal government seemed to be: "Hey, man, it's Christmas. Can't you guys get a life?"
Americans have always had an affinity for "the little guy," and if there's anyone in this country who's the little guy, it's the immigrant, legal or not, working in the meatpacking plant for marginal wages.
Why ICE chose Swift among all the other meatpacking operations, and why it chose the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe just before Christmas is anyone's guess. They were able to round up 230 lawbreakers. But just imagine: If Congress had passed the original version of the immigration bill ICE would have been able to easily double that number by nabbing Minnesotans willing to come to the aid and comfort of their fellow human beings.
Coincidentally — or maybe not so — the raid occurred on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico. So much for the U.S. government's faith-based initiatives.
At any rate, the hundreds of folks who have gone out of their way to lend assistance to the families of workers taken into custody would themselves suddenly be "illegals". Wouldn't that be fun?
What is perhaps most intriguing about the outcome of the raid on the Swift plant in Worthington is that the news media and popular opinion seem to be more on the side of the workers than the government. One might think that this could be fallout from a very nasty campaign season in which the immigration issue, while not front and center, did play an important role.
But it seems that Republicans and Democrats are pretty much on the same side when it comes to the raids. In fact, one citizen who was quite affronted by the whole affair was Worthington's bearded, motorcycle-riding Republican mayor, Al Oberloh. His message to the federal government seemed to be: "Hey, man, it's Christmas. Can't you guys get a life?"
Americans have always had an affinity for "the little guy," and if there's anyone in this country who's the little guy, it's the immigrant, legal or not, working in the meatpacking plant for marginal wages.
Why ICE chose Swift among all the other meatpacking operations, and why it chose the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe just before Christmas is anyone's guess. They were able to round up 230 lawbreakers. But just imagine: If Congress had passed the original version of the immigration bill ICE would have been able to easily double that number by nabbing Minnesotans willing to come to the aid and comfort of their fellow human beings.
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