Mississippi spurning…

How much I can write from Mexico on an huge immigration raid (with some extremely troubling features) is an open question.  I realize most of the immigration and immigrant rights people are partial to the Democratic Party, but I’d hoped a few people in the United States would be writing more on this, and doing more than just reposting what’s in the New York TImes.  That I can do from here (and from Universal, or Reforma or the Cuilican Debate).

From the Jackson Clarion-Ledger/Hattiesburg American:

LAUREL — An estimated 350 Howard Industries workers are being held at an undisclosed location following an early Monday raid that officials say is the largest round-up of its type in Mississippi in recent years.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the 350 employees at the Laurel plant are in the country illegally.

All entrances to the plant were sealed by heavily armed ICE officers wearing flak vests. Hispanic workers were segregated from other plant employees. Mobile trailers were set up to interview the employees, some of whom were loaded into vans and taken to an undisclosed location.

How one defines “Hispanic” might be worth somebody’s attention (let alone how this isn’t “racial profiling” … or is) as well as what those “undisclosed locations” are.

Two comments on the story were intriguing:

Heres one for you all. the State Auditor, who would be in charge of auditing Howard Industries for tax evasion, is Stacey Pickering. Stacey worked there for a few years and was well supported politically by Billy and Linda Howard. I was told first hand that BIlly and Linda told several of the higher upss (Vp’s) that they will give them x number of dollard to support Stacey’s campaign. Not asked, told. Trust me, I know this very well. So what happens now if/when his time comes to do the Tax Audit of employing 350 illegal immigrants and not paying appropriate taxes like you would a regular legal worker. I can assure you that BIlly and Linda Howard will work overtime not to have to pay what their workes (both legal and illegal) give to them. I know several people that have worked for them and left simply because they (BIlly and Linda) are the only ones making any good money over there. And they make alot.

I don’t think the State Auditor would be reviewing the company’s books.  But Billy Howard, the company’s CEO is a major player in Mississippi politics as are the Pickering family.  Stacey Pickering was working for Howard when he ran for State Auditor.

I know nothing about Mississippi, or the labor situation in Laurel.  This is also worth a look:

Cheap wages is not the main reason for them hiring illegals knowingly. Laurel is small and practically everyone at one time or another has worked for them in some capacity at one of the 4 div. They treat their employees terrible, and have no respect for them at all. They’ve gone through the labor force several times over, and the illegals just fill in the gaps that personell can’t fill with legal citizens. This problem with the illegals will never go away with them because they can’t fill the positions otherwise. It’s a numbers game, if you don’t have enough people to man the lines, you can’t get orders out. The Howard’s would have you beleive that they are the most intelligent and informed people in the world, but act like they don’t have a clue that the 350 people detained were illegals. Keep in mind that this was done on the day shift. Watch and see who takes the fall for hiring these people. Probably the personell mgr that makes 25K a year and did exactly what he was told to do.

Mention was made in the Clarion-Ledger/American story that the raid came after union complaints.  Is this true?  I notice a pattern of immigration raids following unionization attempts at large employers.

I try to write on Mexico and Mexican history, culture and politics.  While, by extension, that sometimes includes other parts of the Americas, including the United States of… in relationship to Mexico (including the border and immigration issues), this is outside what the MexFiles can do.  I’d appreciate someone else (a lot of someone elses) picking up on this story.