Re: Whitewater immigration enforcement
I'm not irritated in the least, but I'll get to why towards the end of this post. First, I'd like to address Tee Bee's points.
First, the employer did do what was legally required of him. That doesn't make him instantly innocent, however. He still cannot knowingly employee illegal immigrants, even if they have the "right papers." I do not know any specifics in this case, but I do know of some other companies within a 60 mile radius of Whitewater that, while they had collected the required forms of ID, they also knew exactly who was legal and who wasn't. That determination was not made based on skin color or language, but instead made merely by having daily contact with the workers and learning it over time.
Second, if I had to venture a guess, Whitewater was trying to deal with this locally without getting the Feds involved by making it clear to these companies that they knew who their illegal employees were and encouraging those companies to no longer be hospitable to employing those illegals. Local police departments are not integrated with ICE, and most would be overwhelmed in terms of time and resources if they tried to go through the proper channels with every person they had contact with who was an illegal. My read of this is that Whitewater came up with effective and novel approach to deal with its illegal immigrants, and they tried to do it with the cooperation of local businesses. When Star Products did not cooperate, they probably had their hands forced and at that point they took it to ICE, which is the proper agency for this.
Third, again, based off of what I read in the Janesville Gazette article, it looks like Whitewater took the lead on this, not ICE. That means that ICE did not target Whitewater because it is a small town and the fall out would be less. ICE would have had a huge PR problem on their hands had it become public that they had ignored a request by a city to look into a local business that was known to be employing 25 illegals.
Finally, I don't see this as a case of intimidation. Keep in mind that the charges that Whitewater Rock and Mulch have filed are only the half of the story from a company that probably received unwanted attention from the local police department. After reading the Gazette article, I actually applaud the city of Whitewater for taking charge of a thorny national issue on a local basis. I wish more cities would do so and help/force the Feds to do their jobs.
I am a fan of this action because of a personal experience I had a couple of years back. At a previous address of mine, I had started to receive mail from the DMV and courts to a Latino male that did not live at my residence. Shortly thereafter, the Whitewater PD picked up that individual on a traffic stop. I'm not going to get into the details of how they figured it out, but they did figure out that this male did not live at my residence, and they figured out that he was not here legally. I do not know what came of the case, but the use of my address by that individual ceased. I am imminently thankful that it was only my address that was used and not any of my other personal information, and I am also thankful that this individual was never suspected of anything too serious, because it would have been my home that would have had a warrant served and/or a raid staged. I am also thankful that the Whitewater PD was able to be proactive on that case. As I'm reading this story, this is just another example of Whitewater creatively and legally doing its part to limit illegal immigrants, and the negative consequences related to them, in its city.
First, the employer did do what was legally required of him. That doesn't make him instantly innocent, however. He still cannot knowingly employee illegal immigrants, even if they have the "right papers." I do not know any specifics in this case, but I do know of some other companies within a 60 mile radius of Whitewater that, while they had collected the required forms of ID, they also knew exactly who was legal and who wasn't. That determination was not made based on skin color or language, but instead made merely by having daily contact with the workers and learning it over time.
Second, if I had to venture a guess, Whitewater was trying to deal with this locally without getting the Feds involved by making it clear to these companies that they knew who their illegal employees were and encouraging those companies to no longer be hospitable to employing those illegals. Local police departments are not integrated with ICE, and most would be overwhelmed in terms of time and resources if they tried to go through the proper channels with every person they had contact with who was an illegal. My read of this is that Whitewater came up with effective and novel approach to deal with its illegal immigrants, and they tried to do it with the cooperation of local businesses. When Star Products did not cooperate, they probably had their hands forced and at that point they took it to ICE, which is the proper agency for this.
Third, again, based off of what I read in the Janesville Gazette article, it looks like Whitewater took the lead on this, not ICE. That means that ICE did not target Whitewater because it is a small town and the fall out would be less. ICE would have had a huge PR problem on their hands had it become public that they had ignored a request by a city to look into a local business that was known to be employing 25 illegals.
Finally, I don't see this as a case of intimidation. Keep in mind that the charges that Whitewater Rock and Mulch have filed are only the half of the story from a company that probably received unwanted attention from the local police department. After reading the Gazette article, I actually applaud the city of Whitewater for taking charge of a thorny national issue on a local basis. I wish more cities would do so and help/force the Feds to do their jobs.
I am a fan of this action because of a personal experience I had a couple of years back. At a previous address of mine, I had started to receive mail from the DMV and courts to a Latino male that did not live at my residence. Shortly thereafter, the Whitewater PD picked up that individual on a traffic stop. I'm not going to get into the details of how they figured it out, but they did figure out that this male did not live at my residence, and they figured out that he was not here legally. I do not know what came of the case, but the use of my address by that individual ceased. I am imminently thankful that it was only my address that was used and not any of my other personal information, and I am also thankful that this individual was never suspected of anything too serious, because it would have been my home that would have had a warrant served and/or a raid staged. I am also thankful that the Whitewater PD was able to be proactive on that case. As I'm reading this story, this is just another example of Whitewater creatively and legally doing its part to limit illegal immigrants, and the negative consequences related to them, in its city.
posted by Jib @ 12:47 AM
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