Quote:ICE raids meatpacking plant in rural Tennessee; 97 immigrants arrested

Quote:Federal officials arrested 97 immigrants at a meat-processing plant in rural Tennessee late Thursday in what civil rights organizations said was the largest single workplace raid in a decade and a sign that the Trump administration is carrying out its plan to aggressively ramp up enforcement this year.

Ten people were arrested on federal criminal charges, one person was arrested on state charges and 86 immigrants were detained for being in the country illegally, Tammy Spicer, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in a statement Friday. All of those arrested were in the country illegally, she said. Most were from Mexico.

The raid on Southeastern Provision in Grainger County, Tenn., follows arrests at 7-Eleven stores and other workplaces nationwide. Last year, the nation’s top immigration official said he had ordered agents to increase the number of work-site inspections and operations by “four or five times” this year, to turn off the job “magnets” that attract immigrants who are in the country illegally and punish employers who hire them.

The National Immigration Law Center and other immigrant advocates said the Tennessee raid was the largest since the George W. Bush administration and deployed many of the tactics of that era, with a surprise blitz of the factory, a helicopter and streets blocked by state and local authorities. ICE officials would not say where the raid ranked in terms of size.

“People are panicked,” said Stephanie Teatro, co-executive director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, a statewide organization that came to the small town and set up intake centers where relatives could report their loved ones missing. “People are terrified to drive. People are terrified to leave their homes.”

ICE said its Homeland Security Investigations arm executed a federal criminal search warrant at Southeastern Provision on Thursday, in a joint operation with the Internal Revenue Service and the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

Of the 86 immigrants arrested on civil immigration charges, ICE released 32 but did not explain why. The remaining 54 were being detained, but the agency did not provide their names or say where they were being held.

Last year, acting ICE director Thomas Homan said the agency planned to “significantly” increase work-site operations, but he said his strategy would be different from the Obama administration’s.

“Now we’re going to prosecute the employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens,” he said last year. “We’re going to detain and remove the illegal alien workers.”

Since Donald Trump took office, immigration arrests have risen more than 40 percent and deportations from the interior of the United States have spiked 34 percent.

In January, ICE fanned out to 7-Eleven stores in the District and 17 states, including California, Maryland, Michigan and New York. Agents arrived at 98 7-Eleven stores to interview employees and deliver audit notifications, making 21 arrests. At the time, agency officials said it was the largest operation targeting an employer in President Trump’s tenure.

Quote:ICE conducted 1,360 employee audits last year and arrested more than 300 people for alleged criminal and civil immigration violations. Businesses were ordered to pay $97.6 million in judicial forfeiture, fines and restitution and $7.8 million in civil fines, the agency said.


Immigration hawks have called on the administration to step up work-site enforcement and to require all employers to use the E-Verify system, which checks workers’ legal status. They say the Trump administration’s focus on border security will no block illegal immigration if immigrants can continue to find jobs in the United States.
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(04-07-2018, 01:45 PM)Mystic Wanderer Wrote: Trump Signs Memo Ending ‘Catch and Release’ Immigration Policy
 


BY: Reuters
April 6, 2018 10:06 pm
By: Eric Beech

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump signed a memorandum on Friday ordering the end of a policy, known as "catch and release," in which illegal immigrants are released from detention while awaiting a court hearing on their status.
As part of the memo, Trump asked Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to produce a list of military facilities that could be used to detain illegal immigrants.

When he's done there will be no sign of Obama ever being here.