Commentary - Jeralyn Merritt: Homeland Security’s immigration raids ran amok

A thousand federal agents swooped down on six meat-packing plants across the country and detained more than 1,200 people. In a news release, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the purpose of the raids was to bust an identity-theft ring.

So far, the numbers, according to the Denver Post, belie that claim:

“ICE said 65 of the suspects were arrested on criminal charges including identity theft, and the other 1,217 were held on immigration charges alone. ICE said the investigation is continuing and more criminal charges were possible.”

In Greeley, Colo., at the Swift & Co. plant, more than 200 workers were rounded up, put onto buses and taken to detention centers where many will be deported this week.

Swift & Co. had advance knowledge of the raid. They filed a petition in federal court to prevent it. A judge refused their request.

These employees are hard-working residents of our communities. Social security, federal, state and local income and unemployment taxes are withheld from their paychecks, whether they are in this country with or without proper documentation.

Many of them have children who were born in this country. These children are United States citizens with the same rights and privileges as all of our children.

When did it become acceptable to separate these children from their parents? Who will care for them? Why are they being made to suffer?

Here’s one story from yesterday:

“Yesenia Montelongo stood outside the sprawling Swift meat plant here Tuesday after everyone else had left. She stared beyond the chain-link fence at a group of federal immigration officials.

“I’m waiting for my mother,” the 18-year-old senior at North ridge High School said. “I don’t know where she is.” Montelongo rushed to the plant Tuesday afternoon with her mother’s residency card. But she was unable to find anyone to take it to prove her mother’s legal status.”

Our great nation was built by immigrants. We are a melting pot of diverse and wonderful people. The words on the Statue of Liberty, written by Emma Lazarus in the 19th century, state our policy:

“Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:

I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

How did we become so fearful of immigrants? Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., issued this statement following Tuesday’s raids:

“We need to have laws in place to take us from today’s chaos and lawlessness to law and order. That law and order system must include: increased border security, strict enforcement of immigration laws including a sound employer verification system, and a realistic method of dealing with the human and economic reality of millions of undocumented workers in America.”

I disagree. Once residing in this country, our immigrant workers are entitled to recognition and the right to living wages, safe working conditions and other worker protections.

As the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights organization says, they should have “the same rights as any other member of the U.S.: the right to travel, work, live, study and worship freely and safely, and to reunite their families without discrimination and violence.”

We do need immigration reform. But what we need is a non-punitive immigration reform bill, one that is humane and provides equality, dignity and a clear path to citizenship. Here are some essential ingredients, according to NNIRR:

» Provide the opportunity for undocumented immigrants to legalize their status

» Eliminate criminal sanctions for immigration violations

» Expand avenues for legal immigration and support family reunification

» Provide access and options for permanent residency and citizenship

» Strengthen labor protections and their enforcement for all workers, both native and foreign born

» End border and immigration enforcement abuses.

I am ashamed of the United States today. These raids remind me of World War II when the Japanese were rounded up and put into interment camps. The policy is no more acceptable today than it was then.

I cannot accept a government that rounds people up on buses and takes them to undisclosed locations. Who is a winner here? With the exception of companies like Halliburton with federal contracts to build detention centers, I can’t think of any.

Jeralyn Merritt is a member of The Examiner’s Blog Board of Contributors and blogs at TalkLeft.com