By Kenneth J. Theisen, 8/30/07
In an ominous development for undocumented workers, U.S.
prosecutors of the Bush regime are filing felony identity theft charges against
workers who have identification, such as social security numbers, of other
persons. Conviction on these charges
could result in a two-year prison sentence.
As most people know in the immigrant community, Immigration
and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities have been increasing their
immigration raids on workplaces and neighborhoods. They have arrested many workers and deported
them and of course this is bad enough for the workers and their families. But this recent tactic has increased the
jeopardy that most undocumented immigrants face.
In a recent raid at a meat processing plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina, ICE
arrested 29 workers. They were all
charges with immigration violations, but in addition, prosecutors brought ID
theft charges against 25 of the workers.
This latest raid followed an earlier raid in January of this
year at the same Smithfield Foods Inc. plant.
In that raid 21 workers were arrested and 18 of them were allegedly
found to possess others” ID. ICE then asked the Federal Trade Commission to
review 215 social security numbers of employees of Smithfield which led to even more arrests for
identify theft.
In order to obtain a job, potential employees must prove
that they are legally in the country. As
a result most employees will have some sort of identification to indicate such
proof. It is not unusual for
undocumented workers to obtain phony IDs based on a real person’s
identity. ICE is well-aware of this and
with this new tactic potentially millions of immigrants may be at risk of being
charged not only with the usual immigration violations, but also the additional
ID theft charges. Instead of just being deported which is the normal remedy,
these workers will first face a prison sentence and then be deported.
This latest tactic goes along with crackdowns on employers
who hire the undocumented by ICE. The
Bush regime is doing all in its power to terrorize more than 12 million
residents of the U.S.
that are suspected of being here “illegally.”
Not only do these workers face potential deportation, but the additional
legal pressure allows them to be further exploited even if they stay in the
country.
These workers and residents are humans, not “illegals” that
do not deserve jobs. The irony is that the wrong people are losing their jobs
and going to prison. But there are many in the Bush regime that do not deserve
their jobs and also deserve prison sentences.
Let’s start at the top by kicking them out of their jobs and giving them
their appropriate “rewards.”