ICE raid ripples still felt

[Omaha Steve]

http://hjnews.townnews.com/articles/2009/04/12/news/news02-04-12-09.txt

By Karen Lambert
Published:
Sunday, April 12, 2009 1:31 AM CDT

Nearly two and a half years after federal agents arrested 158 Cache Valley residents during what officials called the largest workplace immigration sweep in the nation’s history, the company that was raided and its workforce are responding to a report that questions its business practices.

About 1,300 illegal immigrants working at six plants owned by Swift & Co. were arrested in December of 2006.

That put the meat processing plant located in Hyrum, along with others in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Texas and Colorado, at the focal point of a national debate on immigration reform. It also served as the impetus for a major think group to hire Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Jerry Kammer to complete a study on the meat-packing plants’ policies.

The controversial report, recently released by the Center for Immigration Studies, questions the importance of illegal immigrants in the nation’s workforce, along with JBS’s business practices.

At the same time, it’s drawing ire from some who say the Washington think group’s agenda — to reduce immigration into the U.S. and provide better conditions for those who do come here — has warped its interpretations.

“This new report by the Center for Immigration Studies is a case study in the misinterpretation and manipulation of data to reach a totally biased and flawed conclusion,” the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union claimed in a statement issued shortly after Kammer’s report was released.

FULL story at link.