Miss. Raid Nation's Largest Despite E-Verify

A raid by federal immigration officials at a factory in Laurel, Mississippi, early this week that ended in the arrest of nearly 600 immigrant workers has left both a community and a business in confusion. In today's Washington Post, [1] we learned that the business where the immigrant workers were employed was using the government's latest system for verifying the status of prospective employees. Howard Industries was using the E-Verify system that is supposed to determine a person's eligibility to work. Firms now complain [2] that the federal system provides them with no protection.

The raid was the largest in U.S. history. After the arrests, immigrant families kept their children home from school. [3] (The AP reported that half of the local school district's Hispanic students stayed home the day after the crackdown.) Most of those arrested Monday were sent to a holding facility in Jena, Louisiana, splitting husbands from their families.

The raid resulted from a two year federal investigation. The AP reported [4] that a local union member tipped off federal officials about Howard's hiring practices and that there have been tensions between local union officials and immigrant workers.