Thursday, May 04, 2006
Immigration - sound familiar?
Here's an immigration story from February 2003.
It was all about politics then, just as it is now...
It was all about politics then, just as it is now...
In the National Review, Mark Krikorian tells the story:
"This initiative, launched in late 1998, focused on all the meat-packing plants in Nebraska (instead of raiding one and letting the others benefit from the disruption of their competitor). Rather than breaking in the doors, the INS simply subpoenaed the companies' personnel records, which they took back to the office and verified. The INS then asked to interview those employees who appeared to be unauthorized — and the illegals ran off. The procedure was remarkably successful, and was meant to be repeated every two or three months until the plants were weaned from their dependence on illegal labor.
But it was never repeated. Gov. Mike Johanns organized a task force to oppose the operation; the meat packers and the ranchers hired former Gov. Ben Nelson to lobby on their behalf; and, in Washington, Sen. Chuck Hagel made it his mission in life to pressure the Justice Department to stop. They succeeded, the operation was ended, and the senior INS official who had thought it up in the first place was forced into early retirement."
