The New Republic on the Swift Raids

From the New Republic:

Over the last few years, anti-immigration sentiment in this country has stiffened–not unlike Lou Dobbs’s hair. Even the president’s conservative supporters moan that the author of the Bush Doctrine has been a ninny when it comes to guarding the Southern border. This growing discontent helps account for the events of the morning of December 12, when the White House launched another campaign of shock and awe. More than 1,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, clad in riot gear, swooped down on six Swift & Co. meatpacking plants. With the news cameras rolling, the agents carted away nearly 1,300 Latino immigrants whom they accused of “identity theft.” The most telling crackdown came in Greeley, Colorado, where 261 workers were hauled away, but only ten were arrested for identity theft. This was a theatrical stunt, not the makings of an immigration policy.  (emphasis added).

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KJ