Do you remember Postville? Those of you who track the ins and outs of the immigration problems in the U.S. may want to know about this one…
This week Erik Camayd-Freixas, a professor of interpreting at Florida International University, broke his code of confidentiality ethic as an interpreter to release a tell-all essay about the aftermath of immigration raids at a slaughterhouse and meat-packing plant in Postville, Iowa (pop. 2,273).
Camayd-Freixas served as an interpreter as attorneys for the U.S. government told 390 illegal immigrants – most of them from Guatemala — that they were being criminally charged of aggravated identity theft and Social Security fraud.
The arrested workers were accused of using Social Security numbers that were not their own to obtain work. They faced a choice: significant jail time or deportation.
What’s more, many of those arrested didn’t understand the charges against them, and had to make a plea decision — which would have a lasting impact on whether they might be able to become citizens in the future — quickly and without full legal information.
According to Camayd-Freixas, most of the workers were Guatemalan peasants with families who depended upon their income.
He says the government was overly harsh in its treatment of the undocumented workers.
Camayd-Freixas accuses the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency of building its anti-terrorism statistics – human traficking arrests and deportations of illegal aliens per year — on the backs of workers who have fled war-torn countries in search of a better life.
So, what do you think? Did these illegal immigrants deserve the treatment they received?
To read more from someone who agrees with the professor, you might check out this New York Times editorial is.
And this statement from Kathleen Campbell Walker, the former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, is also — not surprisingly — also not sympathetic.
And if you really want the scoop, read the essay — or check out the interview with Camayd-Freixas on Democracy Now.
Erik Camayd-Freixas is typical of the left wing within academia. These people believe that laws should apply differently to illegal aliens than to US citizens. If a citizen were to use someone else’s social security number they would rightfully be charged with a felony and hopefully convicted and sent to prison. I doubt seriously that they would be given the option of leaving the country as these people were. The law is there to deter people, whether they be citizens or not, from committing the crime of fraud and identity theft. Identity theft is the cause of great harm to innocent taxpayers. In Professor Camayd-Freixas’s world however, if the perpetrator happens to be an illegal alien they should be exonerated.
Professor Camayd-Freixas doesn’t seem concerned at all about the consequences of illegally using someone else’s social security number like the fact that when wages are reported to the IRS they go after the person whose number it is to collect taxes.
Professor Camayd-Freixas appears to be under the delusion that these people’s only crime was trying to feed their family in Guatemala when the real problem was their having a family that they couldn’t feed to begin with.
According to Camayd-Freixas, most of the workers were Guatemalan peasants with families who depended upon their income.
So what about the U.S. citizens that would have benefited from having those jobs being held by illegals?
Using a Social Security numbers that is not yours is a felony.
The reason is irrelevant. Being deported instead of a felony conviction is a gift. Deport illegals!
Phil Graham said America was a Nation of whiners. He obviously was talking about Invaders. Invaders steal Citizen ID and destroy lives. They are deported instead of being jailed. Proof that no good dead goes unpunished. Thieves get a pass and we are stuck with Professor Camayd_Freixas whining because criminals were removed. Let us do a good deed for Citizens. Pass the hat and purchase a one way ticket for this silly man to Whineville, South of the Border.
There is no reason anyone should be treated any diffrent. Lets start with the term illegal, they are illegal in the sense of the word! if you want to be technical, european-spaniards are the illegals on this continent.
These workers are not here to terrorize, but here to work for a better life and shelter for their families , and to generally call them criminals is ridiculous. We are not thieves, we are not criminals!
we are the original inhabitants of the United States of Aztlan….
the very ground you walk on, is purified by native blood……….let us work the jobs, you wouldnt dare take………………..
Mexika Tiahui…………..
That poll says it all!
Forget being fair, criminals need to be punished! Let’s deport them with one less finger.
So I guess for you who disagree with the way they were treated thats it was inhumane. So what is humane for them to wrongfully use someone elses social security number for their gain? No I don’t think so, they were not hinking about whos life they were ruining why should we care about their family that they have to feed. I agree they should not have a family they can’t take care of. Wrong is wrong. They knew it was wrong to use someone elses social security number illegally. And in the end they still get a choice whether to face the crime they commited or just go back home. Wow must be nice!
No doubt about it… Typical Orange County..
However, it still makes me laugh to know MOST if not ALL of you are in denial. Denial that slowly but surely, we are claiming what is rightfully ours. If you want to complain about illegal immigration.. perphaps you all should rapidly move to Wisconsin or somewhere that was not originally Mexico.. In the meantime.. CALIFORNIA, TEXAS, NEVADA, ARIZONA and many more…
Who are the whiners…. IN FACT: do you really think that all of these mexican people.. actually sneak across the border..?? Highly doubt that… Ask your Corrupt Bribe taking border patrol how it happens.
Wink.. “ES SECRETO DE LA C.I.A. - INVOLUCRADA LA DEA… EN LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS AUNQUE MUCHOS NO LO CREAN’ TAMBIEN EXISTEN CORRUPTOS.. DONDE LOS GRANDES BATEAN”
LANE # 3…
Lets ask them how illegals are treated in there country.Also I believe they know that they are illegal and thats why they are being arrested.
Who cares? They put themselves in the position to get deported. I’m not crying over any of it.
You all listen to and read too much of the same right wing whack-job-garbage. Thinks the same, says the same. Rantel, Mcintyre, blah blah blah…
Whether they were treated “inhumanely” is not the issue, the fact that they had commited fraud and stolen SS numbers speaks volumes!! Does it matter that a crime was commited?..apparently, not to Erik Camayd-Freixas, unfortunately, his sight is focused in the wrong direction! But, as a wise woman once told me, “birds of a feather flock together”! Guess he’s just as like-minded (criminally) and certainly is able to stand on the side of honest integrity,,how sad!
logical fallacy, Americans did those jobs before illegal immigration was exponential. When you criminals go the niches will fill again with legal citizens.
Stop stealing from the tax payer and diminishing our quality of life.
Check the local prison populations;
Check accidents with uninsured motorist;
Teen pregnancy;
drop out rates among the illegal;
Illegal immigration is destroying this country.
So the government was overly harsh? Then why doesn’t Mr. Camayd-Friexas give the illegals his social security number to work under. Once the IRS attaches everything he owns for back taxes and ruins his credit and life in general, perhaps he might change his mind. If you cross the border into the United States illegally, you are a criminal. Over and over these illegals disregard all of our other laws as well. They are not looking for a better life for their families, they are looking for an Americans life to steal. A life that an American has worked hard to create. When the illegals are caught, instead of paying the price, they walk away and find another life to destroy.
I don’t see where there was any inhumane treatment. The cold, hard fact is that these people knowingly engaged in an illegal behavior. They knew that some day ICE may fall upon them, and it happened. There were no allegations that they were abused, lied to, or even denied hot meals and a bed while locked up. Where is the inhumanity?
If a citizen stole somebody’s SSN, opened a credit card account and went nuts at Best Buy, and left the victim with the bill, there is not doubt they would be given all sorts of fraud and theft charges, and a long sentence.
A crime is a crime is a crime. It doesn’t matter what the criminal’s circumstances are.
Let’s round the up the managers and owners of this meat-packing plant,
seize their assets including their homes. Then turn these assets over to the illegal workers and deport the management!
They come here illegally and they steal and use Americans Social Security Numbers. Do we want these people to have the right to become citizens I say kick them out of this country for ever.
Headline shouts “Inhumane Treatment” while the article only mentions “harsh treatment”.
Treating someone harshly, such as placing them in jail after they broke the law, is not inhumane.
Wow…that poll is really one-sided…my guess is the OC dosen’t like illegals…..you think?
These illegals drop out of school and start having families.
That’s why they are poor.
They come here whining that they just need a job(and welfare) to support their families.
The don’t have any business having families.
Americans are taught that it is wrong to drop out of school and have families that they can’t support.
Illegal Aliens cost taxpayer’s money. Deport them all.
My social secrutiy number was compromised, I am still trying to get it sorted out..I am sorry for people who had to leave their country to work here but I am extremely upset that they think that it is normal to live here illegally and use someone’s sociall security.
Maybe they should put their effort into changing their own country so a US citizen is not victimized.
I’m ashamed to post in this ignorant, xenophobic and racist blogging crowd, BUT…
Being undocumented is by FEDERAL law a civil violation, not a CRIME. Know the facts:
American Sociological Assoc. notes (Google “contexts.org Rethinking Crime and Immigration Sampson”):
“…immigration—even if illegal—is associated with lower crime rates in most disadvantaged urban neighborhoods.”
Think about it: The average undocumented immigrant — a field laborer, gardener, nanny — doesn’t want to be deported, so they stay clean and work hard.
The RAND corp, rand(dot)org, one of the U.S.’s top think-tanks, notes:
Overall, immigrants to the United States use relatively few health services, primarily because they are generally healthier than their American-born counterparts…Our findings show a relatively small amount of tax money is spent on health services provided to undocumented immigrants,” said James P. Smith, the RAND chair in Labor Market & Demographic Studies.
ppic.org/main/publication/asp?i=776
Immigrants are far less likely than the avg. U.S. native to commit crime in Calif….among men ages 18-40, the age group most likely to commit crime, the U.S.-born are 10 times more likely than the foreign-born to be in jail or prison. Even among noncitizen men from Mexico ages 18-40 — a group disproportionately likely to have entered the United States illegally — the authors find very low rates of institutionalization.
These are FACTS based on solid math/stats and social science.
I cannot believe the hypocrisy of many of the Orange County Residents towards illegal immigration.
All I hear is the same old tired rant of welfare abuse, stealing jobs from American citizens (I can hardly contain the laughter!!), causing poverty standards in America.
Let’s see, there are an abundant of impoverished Caucasian and Black individuals living in the South and Midwest that are not of Hispanic Nationality, that abuse the welfare and healthcare services, and yes, their way of living is way below the porverty line. Afterall, trash is trash, eh?
Also, how come Hispanics are being blamed for stealing positions that the majority of the American population is unwilling to accept, if not paid more than minimum wage? Everyone thinks that the gas prices are hurting, the economy, just wait until a good chunk of the illegal immigrants are deported and the price of food, clothing, construction, etc. goes way up, because the AMERICAN CITIZEN will not work for minimum wage, performing agriculture, packing food, constructing building, road work repairs, etc.
Yes America, keep on screaming with heated breath about how the immigrants are bringing the way of life of the Superpower USA, just remember, we can only import so much from CHINA.
Oh, puuleeeaase Mr. Camayd-Friexas. Would you like some cheese with that whine? Enough already with the “We need to feel compassion for these people.” If anything, It just makes us angrier!
It’s not inhumane treatment when we hold someone responsible for breaking the law. On the contrary, all of these illegal aliens got off easier than actual citizens of this country would have! Citizens would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for identity theft and fraud. Citizens would have to pay multiple fines and receive jail time for their offenses. The illegal alien gets to go home! Inhumane? PLEASE! Professor Camayd-Freixas is part of the problem; he promotes identity theft, fraud, and illegal immigration tactics which will only lead to the demise of this country if not kept in-check. Like most liberal’s he relies on emotion rather than rationale or logic. We need to realistically secure our borders, levy large fines and/or jail time to the employers that hire illegal aliens, conduct raids more often, and deport illegal aliens until the problem is resolved. If there’s no work due to employers afraid of the fines and jail time then there are no more illegal aliens.
The federal government issues an average of $7,866. per year, for each illegal alien child to attend public school in Orange County! $8,488 in LA County and $9375. per child in the Newport Mesa Unified School District where I live! This means that every child of every illegal alien who is here illegally will receive this money! The parents of these illegal children simply do not pay enough taxes (if they even pay any taxes at all) to offset the cost just for education especially for multiple children in their family. Four children from illegal alien parents attending school would cost $31,464. per year, every year, with increasing amounts year after year! Somebody tell me how this is fair to the actual citizens that are paying for it? That’s not even counting the drain on healthcare! IT HAS TO STOP!
You who are and condone illegal immigration are criminals. You teach your children by example that its is o.k. to break laws. This is why your children shoot each other in the streets. I’m very sorry for the future of this state and country. The wound is gangrenous.
Mobsters have families too. It is legal for them to commit criminal
acts while feeding and nurturing their families?? I don’t think so.
We all have families to support. Why should we accomodate the bleeding hearts that think that the administration of the law is too cruel for certain ethnic groups.
For Hector and Mexicanemi; check with the Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City, before you again spew the Aztlan Myth. Aztlan, the MYTHICAL homeland of the Aztecs, was a small valley 100 miles north of Mexico City. It was earlyman, migrating from Asia who populated the Americas over millenia, including Mejico. The myth of the American southwest being originally populated by Aztecs is right up there Cibola, Eldorado, the Fountain of Youth and the Tooth Fairy. Even so-called Native Americans are migrants; what’s at stake is the rule of law.
Lack of wealth or education is no excuse for crime. The USA don’t need or want illegal aliens, The poor, illiterate peasants should migrate to South America, or Africa. Teach Africans farming methods.
How dare any of you speak for the rest of us. I’m white and American and i am totally Pro Amnesty, pro spanish, and pro mexican. Get the whole truth from all Americans before you spew your propaganda. Yes Mexicans and Columbians and San Salvadorians are welcome here ……..undocumented or not……….Si se puede.
Similar, my social security number was also compromised by the illegals.
Three months ago I received two separate notices from the IRS stating that I fail to report the dollars amount earned from a jobs I held in 2005 ($12,000) and one in 2006 ($8,000). As far as I know I only have one full time job and the dollar figure is WAY off so you can pretty much guess what happened. To make a long story short, I gave up on fighting the IRS burocracy and fork out the the amount they stated I owed…..AND YES, I WAS NOT A HAPPY CAMPER!
We must prosecute Illegal criminals to the fullest extent of the law.
Lesson learned……I must type slower and proof read before hitting the submit button in the future.