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Earlier this month, 4 more people from Swift and Co. were arrested on immigration charges, including Braulio Pereyra-Gabino, who is vice president of Local 1149 of the food and commercial workers union.
"This is the first time a union employee has been charged in an immigration case," Cashen said. "We're concerned and we're anxious to get all the information to make sure he's not being held accountable for things that are not his responsibility. We don't hire. We're not required to check immigration status."The Des Moines Register had a special editorial yesterday on Pereyra-Gabino's arrest.
Union representatives or citizens have no duty to report someone they suspect isn't legally in the United States, according to immigration attorney Lori Chesser of Des Moines.It would be interesting to ask all of those presidential candidates that are visiting Iowa about this case.
"Union officials typically do not hire workers, so they don't have the employer-employee relationship that requires them to ask, 'Are you legal or not?' " Chesser said.
To the contrary, unions believe they are bound by law to represent all workers in the Marshalltown Swift plant.
"As elected representatives of the workers at Swift and elsewhere, we are legally responsible to represent those workers," Cashen said. "We can't discriminate. We can't pass judgment on who we will or won't represent."
After having 1,200 workers nationwide arrested on immigration charges last December, Swift and Co. has yet to be fined or charged with anything.
1 comment:
A few points...
1) No one has the duty to report someone if they think a crime might have been comitted. However it -IS- a crime, knowing that a crime is comitted to act in some way to conceal the crime...it's called "misprison of felony".
2) Unions have no duty to police the immigration status of their members. It is, however, a crime to "harbor" illegal aliens, which was the charge of the indictment. Speaking somewhat loosely "harboring" means knowingly and intentionally assisting an illegal alien enter or remain in the country illegaly. Examples of harboring can include knowingly providing or substantially assisting in the procurement of food, clothing, housing, or employment for an illegal immigrant.
3) I would also note that a human resources employee of Swifts was also indicted and arrested the same day as Mr. Pereyra.
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