KCCI.com, IA
12-20-06
Critics Of Raid Fear Further Dividing Issue
Most Vocal Opponents Remain Silent
AMES, Iowa -- Fallout from last week's raids has sparked a great deal of debate.
NewsChannel 8 has received dozens of e-mails and phone calls from viewers
who said the raids at the Swift & Co. plant were long overdue and have little
sympathy for those workers here illegally.
But few are willing to express those opinions.
An Iowa Congress member was not afraid to share his opinion on the issue.
There's been no shortage of politicians, religious leaders and immigration
advocates expressing their disgust with the way U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement agents handled the Dec. 12 raid at the Swift plant in Marshalltown.
"If we're not willing to send people back home, to deport them when they have
knowingly and willfully broken U.S. immigration laws, if we won't send them back
home, we can't have an immigration law at all," said Republican U.S. Rep. Steve
King of the 5th Congressional District.
That's what's at the heart of this issue for King -- a need to enforce immigration
laws.
He said the failure to do so led to what happened last week and he wondered
what the raids really accomplished.
"In the end, they don't come in and ensure that there's a legal workforce at Swift,
than what did they gain through this?" King said.
Iowa State University Greenlee School of Journalism Director Michael
Bugeja said media coverage has polarized the issue making it a debate over
illegal workers as criminals or victims.
"When we have to execute this type of a raid, it suggests to me a failure of some
policy," he said.
One side has been more vocal than the other.
"I think some are reluctant to come on camera and say, 'Yes, they violated
immigration laws, let's just go in there and clean this out without thinking of the
consequences,'" he said.
Bugeja said he believes the focus of the debate needs to shift and someone
needs to ask some tough questions.
"Who decided to let a problem avalanche and then take care of it in one fell
swoop to make the headlines?" Bugeja said.
A reporter with the Marshalltown Times-Republican newspaper said reporters
have faced a similar resistance from people within the community from those
who don't want to speak out for fear of making it an even more divisive issue.
"The people closest to the story, the people who have helped out, have been
reluctant to talk to the press. They've been willing to say a few things off the
record, but really, on the record, people have been kind of quiet and they're not
sure what the impact is going to be," said Times-Republican reporter Ryan
Brinks.
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