A Land of Law and Order

Yes, we are a land of law and order. To prove this point, ICE raided seven food processing plants in and around Jackson, Mississippi on August 7, 2019.

Immigrants-680 individuals-were arrested during the raids. According to the U.S. Attorney General for Southern Mississippi, these raids were conducted to execute federal criminal search warrants and a number of search warrants for people in the country illegally. Brian Cox, spokesperson for ICE said approximately 300 of those arrested were released by Thursday, after being scheduled for hearings before federal immigration courts. There is no word yet on the other 380 people. One might reasonably conclude the ones not yet released were the targets of the federal criminal search warrants.

Arguably, one might agree those that have committed a crime serious enough to have federal criminal search warrants issued for them should be arrested, tried, and if found guilty, punished. That is the way a land of law and order should work, indeed, that is part of what our taxes pay for.

There is something I find disturbing about these raids, however, and it is also based on law and order. Mississippi requires all employers to use E-Verify, the federal system of proving a potential employee is legally able to work in this country.

All of the plants raided are privately owned. Four of the companies affected (Koch Foods, Peco Foods, PH Foods, and Pearl River Foods) all issued statements saying in part, they comply with the E-Verify system. MP Food, the fifth company targeted by the raids, has not yet issued a statement.

Which brings me to my concern: is the E-Verify system so easy to circumnavigate that 680 people were able to avoid detection, or are the companies lying about using E-Verify? Given that both Koch and Peco have been cited and/or fined by the US Department of Agriculture, EEOC and OSHA, I think the greater possibility is that management of these companies has failed to actually use E-Verify correctly.

There is no real bite in E-Verify, at least for the employer. There may be fines assessed, but no one goes to jail for hiring illegal workers. Pay the fine, move on. But if the owner of Koch Foods, Joseph Grendys (net worth $3.3 Billion, according to Forbes) were to go to jail as well as being fined a substantial amount of money, I think his company would be much more diligent in the hiring process. (Please bear in mind, I am only using him as an example. I do not know for a fact that he is aware of any improper hiring practices in his company.)

It has been my long-held belief that most of the "illegal immigrants" in this country came here to work, make money, and raise their families. If there are no jobs for them, they will not come illegally, at least in my opinion. If the penalties for hiring illegal workers were stiff enough, and enforced, then illegal immigrants would not be able to find work, and therefore would have much less incentive to come here.

Now imagine if this were applied across the entire American economy. Perhaps we would be one step closer to being a land of law and order for all.

I hope I've given you something to think about, and thanks for reading.

You comments, as always, are welcome.

R.M. "Bob" Hartman