Union asks judge to thwart enforcment of immigration laws

AP/Houston Chronicle:

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union wants a federal judge to stop immigration officials from conducting what the union calls illegal workplace raids.

A lawsuit to be filed Wednesday morning in U.S. District Court in Amarillo, Texas, alleges that agents unlawfully detained workers and violated their constitutional rights during raids of six Swift & Co. meatpacking plants in December. The lawsuit also demands that the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement pay damages to workers.

A copy of the lawsuit was provided to The Associated Press on Tuesday.

ICE officials investigating identity theft arrested 1,297 workers at the plants, but union officials have said more than 12,000 workers were detained against their will during the operation. The plants raided were in Cactus, Texas; Grand Island, Neb.; Greeley, Colo.; Hyrum, Utah; Marshalltown, Iowa; and Worthington, Minn.

Union president Joseph Hansen planned to formally announce the lawsuit at a news conference Wednesday in Washington, and to complain that workers who weren't accused of breaking any laws were handcuffed and held for hours and denied access to phones, bathrooms, legal counsel and their families.

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What this union is attempting is an absolute outrage. Attempting to undermine the rule of law in order to help those who came here illegally and illegally stole others identification in order to get work is not responsible conduct for anyone. The judge should toss this case and impose sanctions on the union that brought such frivolous litigation. The Justice Department should also consider bringing obstruction of justice charges against the union officials.

The ACLU and the AFL-CIO also conspired to obstruct justice in a recent immigration case.