Taxpayers' cost to keep arrested workers in jails: $590,000 a month

[flashl]

Critics and supporters of this spring's Postville immigration raid agree on one thing: It's surprising that 304 immigrants are serving jail sentences instead of being deported immediately.

Most of the immigrants arrested at the Agriprocessors plant were sentenced to spend five months in jail before being sent home. Some interviewed in jail said they hope to be sent home sooner than that, but lawyers on both sides said that's unlikely to happen.

Jesus Reyes is a typical case. "Why don't they send me back? I just want to go back," Reyes said in Spanish.

...

Like most of those arrested in the largest single-site workplace raid in U.S. history, Reyes is a native of Guatemala who pleaded guilty of using a false Social Security number to get work at the Agriprocessors packing plant. He expressed anguish over the fate of his eight children, wife and mother, who were counting on the $200 per month he wired home to Guatemala during his three years in Iowa.

Des Moines Register

[whistle]

1. Wouldn't welfare be much cheaper?

[DJ13]

2. Why should anyone using false government documents expect no punishment?

Anyone that used false Social Security documents should be treated like a criminal, irregardless of their skin color or immigration status.

[flashl]

5. And, if its the government's error prone E-Verify?

With E-Verify, too many errors to expand its use?

Advocates acknowledge that E-Verify's 94 percent accuracy rate could be improved, but they insist that its benefits outweigh any imperfections. They contend that it's an easy, straightforward way for employers to comply with immigration law. Better education of employers can ensure it's used properly, they say.

In the middle are many immigration experts and economists. Worksite enforcement, they say, is crucial to controlling illegal immigration. But they also note that America's current immigration system is broken and not meeting the needs of the economy. That's why there's a steady flow of illegal, low-wage workers entering the US. These experts are concerned that imposing E-Verify nationwide now without broad immigration reform would severely damage the economy.

...

Illinois even has a law forbidding employers from using it because of concerns about its accuracy, although the state has agreed not to enforce its law until a court case challenging it is resolved. California legislators are considering a similar ban on the use of the program.

Yahoo

[HereSince1628]

3. Terrible. Agriprocessors should be fined to cover the jail cost.

I'd be anguished too if I had 11 mouths to feed and found myself in jail.

I hope the risk of losing the ability to do that was in the calculus used to decide to risk of using a false SS card.

[AzDar]

4. I'd say send that bill for the incarceration period (along with any other expenses incurred) to

the 'Corporations' caught exploiting these workers.

One more 'disincentive' to hire those here illegally...
:think:

[redqueen]

6. The latest in rackets / profiteering opportunities...

[crickets]

7. Agreed.-nt

[redqueen]

8. So it's 1 out of 100 Americans in prison, is it?

Not counting the detained illegal immigrants?

And it's a recession-proof business, isn't it?