166 rag sorters arrested in Houston immigration raid

Houston Chronicle:

As anxious relatives stood outside, van after van of mostly female undocumented workers were removed from a sweltering rag-sorting factory on Houston's east side and whisked to an immigration processing facility.

The early morning raid Wednesday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, while netting 166 undocumented workers, did not include arrests of company officials with Action Rags USA. But those charges may be on the way.

"The office of investigation is looking at allegations of the hiring of illegal aliens, which is a crime," said Special Agent Bob Rutt, of the Houston ICE office. Arresting illegal immigrants was "a collateral part" of the investigation, he said. "Our focus, ICE's overall focus, is targeting the employer."

Rutt, however, referred inquiries about possible criminal charges in Wednesday's raid case, as well as one at Shipley Do-Nuts in Houston, to federal prosecutors. There have been no arrests of Shipley managers or company officials.

"As it pertains to Shipley Do-Nuts, we cannot confirm or deny the existence of a criminal investigation," said Angela Dodge, public affairs officer for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Houston.

"I think everybody recognizes that to get a handle on this, ... you have to go after the employer," said Steven Camarota, director of research with the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates stricter immigration controls.

...

Prosecuting the employers is the most effective way to control the hiring of illegals. I suspect that the problem the prosecutors face is proving knowledge that the employee was here illegally. New regulations requiring employers to use the e-verify system should make these cases easier, but employees hired before the system went into place may be a more difficult case.

The raid does suggest a seriousness in the enforcement effort that did not exist before the failure of comprehensive immigration reform. Sustaining that effort will be the price immigration officials will have to pay to get the reform they think they need.

The NY Times reports those arrested were from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. About 70 percent of those arrested were women. The Times story interviewed the company lawyer who was "shocked" at the allegations. However the story also interviewed some onlookers who are also here illegally suggesting that they were doing little to hide their status.