New Mass Roundup of Illegals Across Several U.S. States

Raids by immigration officials are in operation this morning, involving a round-up illegals at 6 Swift meat plants, across six states.

U.S. - Tuesday Dec 12 - Raids by federal immigration authorities are underway today at 6 Swift brand meat-packing plants across the U.S. Swift plants at Greeley, Colorado and Grand Island, Nebraska are amongst others across several states are being investigated for the presence of illegal immigrant workers. These raids are part of a larger crack-down that was announced by the Bush administration in April of 2006. The initial raids last spring, in which over 1,000 illegals were rounded up, involved the German-based firm IFCO Systems. In those raids, as in the current ones, illegal workers are believed to have used stolen social security numbers and the identities of Americans, in applying for their jobs at the plants. Swift is one of 4 major meat-packing companies in the U.S., which together make up about 80% of the beef processing industry. At the Greeley, Colorado plant, managers are telling authorities they were unaware of any wrongdoing on the part of workers, and were not complicit. Average salaries at the plants are about $12 per hour, or about $25,000 a year, plus benefits. More news to come as it breaks.