Immigration Raids Stepped Up
According to yesterday’s News Journal (the local paper in Wilmington, Delaware), 7 local Burger King restaurants were the subject of a federal search warrant looking for evidence of violations of the immigration laws. The search warrant identified 78 employees who authorities suspected of working illegally. Delaware wasn’t the only target of recent raids. Almost 600 unauthorized immigrants were arrested this week in Mississippi at one company.
What brought on these enforcement efforts? Well, some think it has something to do with the fact that last week, the Scheduled Departure program was declared a failure by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. What’s that? You never heard about this program? Neither did I. Under this program, illegal immigrants were given the opportunity to turn themselves in. They would be given 90 days to plan their departure from this country instead of facing the prospect of being arrested, detained and deported. Although the program was offered to more than 450,000 illegal immigrants who had been ordered by the Courts to leave the country, only 8 people chose to turn themselves in. Hence, the reason for scrapping the program.
