Comments on: A Small Town Under Siege

Residents Still Struggle To Recover After Immigration Raid Left Economy In Tatters

[toners777]

I believe being soft on immigration, causes many more problems than it solves

[carolhill814]

This is so sad to see where the Mid-West is going I lived in the Mid-west for three years and loved every moment I had to leave because I was getting a divorse and I had no family there or I would have stayed. In several ways I wish I had have but I was young and afraid of being alone.

[Newster1]

Lemme guess, the town loses 1,200 people after almost 400 ILLEGALS were busted and carted away, all of whom provided falsified SS#'s and identification papers, breaking every law on the books on that in the process, coming here illegally across the border and these dorks in this hick town are all upset??
Let's see, we find out the jewish owners of this animal Auswichtz death-camp also hired scores of minors who were also working there illegally, and these owners claimed they had NO idea all these hundreds of Mexicans and children were illegals or under age!

Examining further, we find youtube videos showing the horrific animal abuse and filthy conditions in this animal version of Auswichtz where fully conscious animals were routinely cut into while still conscious.
There's a longer version of this narrated expose' clip on this very plant, but this is the shorter one; www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc80aJdIazE
.
I for one am glad it was shut down, ironic how it wasn't due to their horrific abuse of animals, but labor and immigration laws. The smirk on the owner's face in an article when this broke, and being quoted as stating he had "no idea these people were all illegals" made me want to puke, but the follow up images a week later of him in cuffs by a patrol car revealed his smirk was totally gone, wiped off his ugly face by the hands of a couple of police officers armed with a laundry list of thousands of charges that should put his sorry behind away for a long time!

[legacyabq]

The truth is that "immigrants take our jobs"

is truly an american myth!

Really. Most ILLegal workers do jobs no one here will do!!

Like heavy FARMING and SLAUGHTERING ANIMALS !!

So, they're not taking anybodys job..

How many people do you know willing to clean motel rooms or pick starwberries 12 hours a day for LESS THAN MINIMUM WAGE ?!?!?!?!?!!?

Think about it!!

[naj1953]

They aren't paying taxes when they aren't legal either. I have had to work more then two jobs always, but I pay my taxes.We could all have it alittle better not paying taxes. Truth is this country is full of Illegal workers and they have helped with dragging it down too. Maybe you wouldn't clean a motel room, but some American citizens have or worked in a slaughter house before the greedy owners wanted to get rich.

[legacyabq]

just give em all 10 year visas and tax them!!

Mucho dinero por las yanquis!

LOL

[SusanStoHelit]

Funny how they aren't mentioning the legal American citizens out on the streets, going bankrupt, having to live on welfare because they cannot get a job - because the illegals are taking them. After this raid, the jobs were open, suddenly paid a living wage, and whaddya know, American citizens flocked to them. Not the story CBS wants to sell here - but they included mention of these people in one of their other stories.

[legacyabq]

IMMIGRANTS:

Test 'em for citizenship/work Visa
Pay 'em a little more
Make 'em legal

AND TAX THEM LIKE EVERYONE ELSE!!!

How about that?

[SusanStoHelit]

If the laws had been enforced all these years, it wouldn't have been such a start when they suddenly were enforced. The jobs would have been held by citizens, not illegals, and the economy would have been much better. But nope - they turned a blind eye - and this town pays the price - hopefully other towns are watching and learning - if they have a major illegal employer, they should start the crackdown themselves, rather than waiting.

But they'll recover if the business manages to stay open (not that they deserve do, all those thousands of illegals they were hiring rather than citizens), as the new people the plant hires (there was an article about some of them too - they'd been looking for jobs for quite some time) move in.

Or the business might close - because they were never profitable enough to do business without breaking the law - in which case this is no different than any other time a town's main employer closes - they can talk to Detroit for sympathy.

[legacyabq]

well, i think that the thing is:

this situation may serve as a microcosmic example of what would happen to the USA economy, if, suddenly, you took all the immigrant labor out of the picture.. Things would be especially bad in meatpacking and agriculture..

No mexicans = higher prices and shortages of foods and/or meats

!Viva los Mexicanos!

[kevboom]

I think there's also a flip-side to a story like this. In towns across America where illegals are allowed to take root without being arrested, various businesses are established such as landscaping, tree removal, cleaning, grocery stores, etc., most of which undercut the prices of existing citizen-owned businesses that can't compete because legal businesses have to pay into social security for their legal workers, pay at least minimum wage or better, and for owners trying to do the right thing, pay benefits for their workers. Forcing legal businesses out of business by allowing illegals to move in and undercut the pricing structure of various industries does grave harm, which I think stories like this fail to report.

[YCantWeAllGetAlong]

Um, they were illegal. OH WELL. Hire legal Americans and you won't have this problem. No sympathy.

[mav547166]

Its not all that hard for a Mexican to get a work permit in the US. Seems that this town was knowingly making money off of illegal activity so they get to reap what they sow.

[summarex]

Sometimes revolutions begin in small town. Wouldn't it be great if the legislators of this small town declared it a sanctuary city and forbade federal agents from conducting any raids and ordered the release of all those who have been detained. Of course the federal government would ignore them but it would set up the scenario for the confrontation and I think the small town would win!

[joule18]

It could have been citizens who held all the jobs instead of illegals. Then the town would have had a predictible number of residents. The downfall, however was the alleged fault of the meat packing executives.

[formrusmcsgt]

"Postville is an excellent opportunity for our elected officials - for our president and the administration to come and see what immigration raids to do communities," said Pastor Steve Brackett, with the St. Paul Lutheran Church. "We have the evidence right here."
--
To xenophobes, negative consequences of raids mean nothing , pastor.

They simply want the rounded up and deported - damn the consequences.