ICE raid in Ohio “nets” 160 – again employer conspires to deliberately hire

Straight from the mouth of ICE, their own story posted yesterday:  http://www.ice.gov/p…

CINCINNATI – Special agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) today executed criminal search warrants at Koch Foods in Fairfield, Ohio. ICE identified more than 180 Koch employees working at the Fairfield plant requiring further questioning and administratively arrested more than 160 as of 4PM for immigration violations. ICE agents simultaneously executed criminal search warrants at Koch’s corporate office in Chicago.

I found the execution of “criminal search warrants” at the corporate offices of special interest.

As for preventive measures, and an apparent appempt to avoid a humanitarian disaster this time around:

Today’s enforcement action was coordinated with ICE’s federal, state and local counterparts including, the Southern District of Ohio’s U.S. Attorney’s Office; the USDA Office of the Inspector General; Health and Human Service’s Department of Immigration Health Services; the Ohio Department of Public Safety; the Butler County Sheriff’s Office; the Butler County District Attorney’s Office; and Butler County Children’s Services.

At the Fairfield plant, illegal aliens have been interviewed by ICE and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Immigration Health Services (HHS/DIHS) to record any medical concerns, sole-caregiver issues or other humanitarian concerns. Based on this information, ICE makes decisions regarding whether or not an illegal alien should be released for humanitarian reasons. If released, the illegal alien is issued a notice to appear in front of an immigration judge at a later date.

Mind you, I was NOT there.  I cannot hop a jet and volunteer to interview arrested Koch employees in Ohio; I could go volunteer after the New Bedford raid because it was only a couple hours driving time.  I cannot check the facts and effects of this raid out personally.

If you, or someone you know, has a loved one who worked for Koch, Inc. in Ohio and you cannot contact them, and are worried, here is the hotline for this one:

A 24-hour toll-free detainee locator hotline is available exclusively for family members of those arrested in today’s operation to field questions about detention status and the removal process. The hotline operates in English and Spanish; the phone number is 866-341-3858.

That all being said, I favor “guestworker certificates” with special ID, and registration requirements.  Most of these folks want to earn money and go home.