Immigration raids nab few supervisors, employers

Immigration raids, many of which take place in rural areas, often at meatpacking plants, seize hundreds of undocumented workers but usually allow their employers to remain free and keep working, Stewart Powell writes for the Houston Chronicle. "Once again the federal government has it backwards," said Texas Rep. Ted Poe. "It is a waste of time if we don't go after the business owners who are knowingly hiring illegals. If we eliminate the illegal job opportunities, we can start to eliminate the problem."

Federal immigration agents have arrested more than 2,900 suspected undocumented workers on administrative immigration charges and 775 more workers on criminal charges over the past eight months. During the same time period, only 75 bosses, including business owners, supervisors or human resources workers, have been arrested on charges such as harboring or knowingly harboring undocumented immigrants. This accounts for barely 2 percent of the 3,750 total workplace immigration arrests since October. "The presence of illegal aliens at a business does not necessarily mean the employer is responsible," Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it a statement. "Developing sufficient evidence against employers requires complex, white-collar investigations that can take years to fruit."

"Undocumented workers often face quick prosecution for so-called ''status crimes" such as being in the country illegally — charges that are easy to prove. Many of those arrested quickly plead guilty and serve sentences averaging as little as a month," Powell writes. "But to convict employers, federal prosecutors must show that they knowingly hired undocumented immigrants, a threshold that demands more evidence." Read more here.