The couple hid for hours inside the plant before obtaining refuge in the pews and hall at St. Bridget's Catholic Church, where hundreds of other Guatemalan and Mexican families gathered, hoping to avoid arrest.After making a point to depict the Bush administration's recent crackdown as more about illegal employees than their employers the story finally made mention that company records were seized in the raid. Several paragraphs from the end it finally got around to admitting the actual charges against the 300+ illegal workers:
Of the adults, 306 face criminal charges for aggravated identity theft and other crimes related to the use of false documents. A lawsuit filed on behalf of the workers on Thursday, meanwhile, accused the government of violating their constitutional rights through arbitrary and indefinite detention.Granted, identity theft doesn't open up the tear ducts quite like emotional stories of hiding behind pews from helicopters and jack-booted thugs, but it's not a victim-less crime, either. And Notice Mr. Hsu followed it with an immediate mention that groups had filed complaints of illegal detention of these illegal aliens based on trampling their constitutional rights (cough GTMO, cough torture). Check.
Let's put this in perspective. Identity theft is a major crime these days. It hurts law-abiding Americans but the column expressed ZERO sympathy for the fraud victims by fraudulently painting the illegal aliens as victims. If the charges stick many of these people will be deported since they are in effect criminal aliens. If that sounds draconian just remember the old saying many of us were taught as children--"crime doesn't pay". Evidently some believe that's just a quaint old notion--unless of course it pertains to the Bush administration.
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