Unions: Fewer Hispanic immigrants hired since Swift & Co. raids

[Regis Philbin]

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/12/19/america/NA_GEN_US_Immigration_Raid_Hiring.php


Unions: Fewer Hispanic immigrants hired since Swift & Co. raids


The Associated PressPublished: December 19, 2006

OMAHA, Nebraska: Fewer Hispanic immigrants are being hired to replace former meatpacking workers arrested during last week's raid of Swift & Co. plants in Grand Island and Greeley, Colorado, according to local union presidents.

Local 22 union president Dan Hoppes said Tuesday that between 40 and 50 new workers have been hired at the Grand Island plant since the raids.

"The lion's share of those people were Caucasian," Hoppes said.

Before the raids, roughly 90 percent of the Greeley plant workers were Hispanic, said Local 7 union president Ernie Duran.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials arrested nearly 1,300 people at six Swift & Co. plants in last week's sweep. Some experts say the raids could lead to a shortage of meatpackers, higher wages and higher prices for the beef in homes and restaurants.

Several union officials said Swift has offered better wages, benefits and bonuses since before the raids.

[DoubleEdgeSword]

Regis's misleading headline:
Americans lining up for jobs vacated by deported illegals

From the story:
In Greeley, where Swift is headquartered, Duran said about 75 new workers have been hired — including about 30 Caucasians (the story does not say if these Caucasians are Americans), 15 Somalian immigrants and seven Hispanic immigrants, with the rest U.S.-born Hispanics.

............

At the Greeley plant, Duran said the hiring office was filled every day, with many immigrants still applying for the jobs.



The immigrants are still lining up for the jobs, but the plants are probably more reluctant to hire them, knowing they may lose a number of them in another raid.