Yet Another Immigration Raid
Nearly 50 people were taken into custody yesterday morning at a suburban Houston trash collection company in a raid to check for illegal immigrants. According to witnesses, federal agents arrived at around 6 a.m. and immediately assembled all of the employees in one area in the back of the facility. There, they began questioning workers and checking their drivers' licenses and Social Security cards.
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and sheriff's department officials brought in several buses to the facility, presumably to transport undocumented workers.
The company has stated that there were immigration problems in 2005, but since then they have voluntarily signed up for the Basic Pilot program. Companies that take part in Basic Pilot can check the Social Security numbers that job applicants provide against a national database of Social Security and immigration records. Even using the program, however, illegal immigrants were found to be working at the company.
Most of the workers detained are from El Salvador, Mexico, Honduras and Nicaragua, and they now face deportation from the U.S. Additionally, some of those arrested in the raid may face federal criminal charges for reentering the U.S. after deportation and also for the use of fraudulent documents to gain employment.
