U.S. Arrests Hundreds of Illegal Workers In Raids Across The Nation

U.S. Cracking Down On Illegal Immigration? It remains to be seen.

Looks like more of a smoke screen to me. All of a sudden the White House is cracking down?

This seems like more of an effort to satisfy the Republican mainstream. Part of the new spin machine that is being assembled for the Bush administration with all the new changes. More window dressing.
I don't think that the U.S. is serious about the Immigration issue. This series of raids is more an effort to send a message....but it's a message directed more towards the Republican base than to companies that use illegal immigrants.

---------------------------------

Feds Warn Companies Using Illegal Workers

By ANDREW MIGA
The Associated Press


WASHINGTON -- The government plans to crack down ever harder on employers who harbor and hire illegal immigrants, pursuing companies that ignore the law so they can exploit cheap labor.
"We are going to move beyond the current level of activity to a higher level in each month and year to come," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Thursday. He pledged to "come down as hard as possible" on violators.

Federal agents on Wednesday arrested seven current and former managers of IFCO Systems, a manufacturer of crates and pallets, on criminal charges, and more than 1,100 people were arrested on administrative immigration charges at more than 40 IFCO sites in the U.S.

"Our nation's communities cannot be a wild frontier where illegal aliens and unscrupulous employees subvert our nation's laws," said Julie Myers, assistant secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Don Sherman, director of the Cincinnati Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice, an advocate for immigrant workers and their rights, was skeptical about the government's move.

Continue reading here, from the Washington Post.