April 29, 2008

Former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack takes illegal immigration side in Swift raid; Peter Schey link

From this:

Allegations that federal officials illegally rounded up and arrested almost 1,300 Swift factory workers during raids in Marshalltown and across the country are being highlighted today at a public hearing that includes testimony from former Gov. Tom Vilsack... [Vilsack alleged various abuses and said:] "Our nation has no real comprehensive immigration policy, so instead we use scare tactics to mark the failure of our system... We're here today because it is clear that our constitutional rights have been violated during raids conducted by our government..."

Whatever the facts of the matter, he should have tempered his remarks with a statement in support of our immigration laws and their enforcement. Not only did he not do that, but he's linked in with some interesting folks...

The Mexico-linked Peter Schey has joined with the UFCW to sue the feds over the raid based on the same charge, for which he started the "Swift Raid Collaborative". And, the UFCW has started something called the "National Commission on ICE Misconduct & Violations of the 4th Amendment" (lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2008/02/ufcw-hearing-on.html).

Vilsack serves on that UFCW commission with the following:

* Joe Hansen, President, UFCW
* Dennis Hayashi, a lawyer
* Rev. Samuel "Billy" Kyles
* Maria Elena Durazo (AFL-CIO and Barack Obama co-chair)
* Bill Hing, Professor of Law, UC Davis
* Susan Gzesh, Human Rights Program, Univ. of Chicago
* Oscar Chacon, Salvadoran American National Network
* Mary Bauer, Southern Poverty Law Center
* William Spriggs, Department of Economics, Howard University

Their February 25 meeting included appearances by:

* Peter Schey
* Arnoldo Garcia, Director, Immigrant Justice & Rights Program, National Network of Immigrant Rights
* Jeanne Butterfield of the American Immigration Lawyers Association
* Monica Guizar of the National Immigration Law Center

If Vilsack runs for some future office, bring up his new wonderful friends.

Posted to Immigration2008a at April 29, 2008 04:17 PM