Federal agents descended on a Birmingham, Alabama manufacturing plant this week and walked out with 30 people in custody, which is what tends to happen when your workforce allegedly has more fake IDs than a college town on a Friday night.
As The American Tribune reported, ICE and Homeland Security Investigations agents teamed up with state and local law enforcement to raid Scholar Craft Plants on Tuesday, June 30, serving warrants as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into the alleged fraudulent use of identities and employment documents. All 30 illegal aliens encountered during the operation were taken into custody to face deportation proceedings.
Scholar Craft Plants, perhaps wisely, had no comment. When your company just got raided by a small army of federal agents, "no comment" is probably what your lawyer screamed at you through the phone.
An ICE spokesperson said, "We remain committed to working alongside our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners to investigate and address violations that undermine the integrity of our nation's employment systems and immigration laws." Standard government boilerplate, but the 30 arrests suggest they mean it.
Naturally, this has sent certain corners of Birmingham into full meltdown mode. Chris Isor from the local Democratic Socialists of America chapter decided to comment on a completely different city's operation for some reason, saying, "What is unfolding in Minneapolis in Operation Metro Surge is nothing short of a federal occupation." Sir, we are talking about Alabama.
Another protester, Landon Gerstmann, said, "There are reports every day of ICE in Birmingham. They are surrounding us slowly, like a snake, like an anaconda, like a restrictor. And, as a Jewish person, I know a thing or two about the mechanisms of fascism." Comparing immigration enforcement to fascism is certainly a choice, and calling the snake a "restrictor" instead of a "constrictor" suggests the anaconda metaphor could have used another draft.
BLM's Eric Hall used the moment to call for shutting down both detention centers and prisons entirely, saying, "We are tired of seeing our people being killed by the hands of the state. And it must stop." He added, "And so we send a message out to all of those who do not value Black lives, who do not value our identity, that we are going to rise up as a people."
Diana Isom, a Panamanian migrant, offered a more measured take: "Immigrants are often spoken about as numbers or problems, but we are children who grew up here, parents raising families, workers who show up every day, neighbors." She added, "We are not outsiders passing through. We are part of the fabric of this country."
Look, everyone is entitled to protest. That is genuinely one of the best things about this country. But when a factory is allegedly running on fake documents and stolen identities, maybe the outrage should be directed at the employers who created this situation in the first place rather than the agents enforcing the law. Just a thought.
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