Immigration Busts Have Whiff of Politics

Raids on the rise, as White House tries to impress conservatives

Copied

Immigration Busts Have Whiff of Politics — Mario Crespo, in silhouette and on the U.S. side of the border at right, visits with his wife Angelica Oliveros through the international border fence on Father's Day in Tijuana, Mexico, Sunday, June 17, 2007. Oliveros does not have a visa to enter the U.S. and Crespo is fixing his immigration status... (Associated Press)

Massive workplace raids, conducted by armed federal agents and targeting illegal immigrants, are on the rise, and the reason, critics charge, is that the White House wants to curry favor with conservatives. In the first five months of '07, Salon reports, 3,226 undocumented workers were arrested in these expensive operations; in all of 2002, the total was 485.

The raids have been described as stampedes, the treatment of workers, inhumane; some illegals have been detained while their children were left stranded. And yet the raids do nothing to solve the problem of illegal immigration, critics agree. There was speculation the busts would decrease after the President's immigration bill was defeated in Congress, but that apparently isn't happening (More illegal immigrant stories.)

Report an error