Striking in the early morning hours, in a coordinated assault with local law enforcement, federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents swept into six meat processing plants in six states, all owned by Swift & Co.

By the time the raid was over, 1,300 workers were in custody, and the national meat packer was facing further prosecution, fines and a $30 million bill for lost production at the six closed plants. Shockwaves from that Dec. 12 crackdown, reverberating through the nation’s business community, have reached Tucson as company owners are assessing the increased risk of hiring undocumented workers.

Speaking at the Jan. 17 meeting of the Alliance of Construction Trades, Fennemore Craig attorney Matt Martinez said the situation was bad and not likely to get any better, any time soon. With the federal government targeting employers who hire illegal immigrants, he warned that prosecutions are soaring. Even companies that have attempted to comply with the law may still be running a risk, if immigration investigators believe they didn’t try hard enough to certify that the information collected was accurate.

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“In 2002, under the old Immigration and Naturalization Service, there were 25 employer arrests for harboring and hiring illegal workers. Last year, under ICE, that total had jumped to 716,” Martinez said. Meanwhile, prosecutions for overstaying a visa soared from 485 in 2002 to 3,667, last year.

It’s more than just an increase in arrests, he said. More people are being charged with more crimes, including harboring, transporting and employing illegal workers, as well as money laundering, for under-the-counter payments, and additional charges for false documents. Martinez said, “ICE is pretty serious. They are very efficient and have the resources to get the job done.”

Therefore, the only protection is full and complete cooperation. “I’ve spoken to several companies who say to me they are trying to comply but say it with a wink,” he said. “My message to them is that it may be tempting to do that, but the risks are too great.”

The financial impact on Swift & Co. has demonstrated “the disruption that a raid causes to a business is significant and so are the financial losses.” Like Swift & Co., which believed it was following the law, Martinez said, “Even companies that feel they’ve gone to extremes to comply with the law still don’t know whether they’re truly complying.”

Because of that, preparation is the only sensible course. “Don’t get caught in a state of panic,” he said. “Make a mental note as you go about your work as to what you’ll do. Have a plan in place and designate someone to represent your company to ICE.”

This is a war on illegal immigration. “Make sure you don’t get caught in the crossfire.”

At its core, this is also a struggle for workers, said Sheridan Bailey, owner of the Phoenix-based Ironco Enterprises and president of the newly created Arizona Employers for Immigration Reform (AZEIR).

He noted that the construction industry, alone, will need 500,000 new skilled workers, each year, to keep pace with demand. It will need to recruit them from a shrinking pool of available employees. “Kids are going to college and there are fewer of them.” Bailey said, “We’re in an untenable position.”

Companies need a reliable system for verifying that an applicant has the right to work in the U.S. and there needs to be an easier means for recruiting temporary or permanent foreign workers. There also has to be a reliable way to deal with undocumented workers already in the country.

“People are rightly concerned about the current situation and what it means for the identity of America,” Bailey said. “We also have to be concerned about those people who would do us harm, but the government is focusing on people who are here making a contribution not the saboteurs.”

Because of that, he said, “Business people are fed-up with Congress’ inaction and their inability to get together on this. The problem is that we’re talking to each other, not our elected representatives.”

That has to change. Government officials need to hear from employers in the mainstream, rather than those with an axe to grind. He said, “We need to be speaking to our representatives and senators. We need to speak the truth to eliminate distortions from the extremists.”

In the next several months, AZEIR is planning to present petitions, sponsor public forums and go to Washington D.C. The advocacy group also plans to work in cooperation with similar groups in New Mexico, California and Texas.

“We plan to speak out, wherever we can,” Bailey said. “We’re not doing right for ourselves or our country when we’re silent. The economic health of the nation is at stake.”

E-mail comments for publication to editor@azbiz.com. Contact Philip S. Moore by e-mail at pmoore@azbiz.com or call (520) 295-4238.

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