A majority of the 680 illegal aliens arrested in a raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Mississippi in August were working under stolen American identities.
The Washington Times reported Friday that the Department of Homeland Security’s leading investigator told a Congressional hearing the day before that most of the 680 illegal alien workers arrested had false identities.
That revelation runs counter to Democrats’ claims that the “undocumented” workers were doing no one any harm.
“They stole the IDs of 400 U.S. citizens,” said Jere Miles, who leads Homeland Security Investigations’ New Orleans office. “Where’s their voice?”
Miles defended the Aug. 7 ICE raids directed at seven poultry processing plants. He said all of them were not only successful, but they also served as a deterrent to others who might be considering crossing illegally into the U.S. and working under a false name.
The DHS official was called before a field hearing convened by Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee who sought to criticize the raids and the Trump administration’s enforcement priorities.
Immigrant rights activists complained that the raids were cruel — conducted on the first day of school for the workers’ children and without prior warning to local authorities or social welfare agencies.
Reports at the time noted that the White House and ICE were afraid news of the raid would leak as had happened in previous ICE enforcement operations, thereby putting agents’ health at risk.
“You picked on the undocumented persons, to the exclusion of the employers,” said Rep. Al Green, Texas Democrat.
Other Democrats said that arresting the parents put their children in precarious positions, but Mills pushed back.
He said the disposition of illegal immigrant children is no different than that of American kids whose parents violate the law and are arrested and incarcerated.
Now, how about some jail time and a very hefty fine for the owners of the poultry processing plants for hiring illegal alien invaders.