odd way of handling things, yes?
Judge demands to know whereabouts of Colo. suspects in Swift raid
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Associated Press
January 13, 2007
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DENVER (AP)-- A federal judge demanded Friday that immigration officials disclose the whereabouts of 265 people arrested in a raid at a meatpacking plant in Greeley last month.
U.S. District Judge John L. Kane gave Immigration and Customs Enforcement until Jan. 22 to submit a list accounting for all the detainees, including those who have been deported.
''There are people in custody — there is an urgency to this,'' Kane said.
Kane told ICE officials to work on the list with union attorneys who are contesting the Greeley arrests.
ICE agents raided Swift & Co. meatpacking plants in six states on Dec. 12, arresting a total of 1,282 people. ICE has said about 220 face identity theft or other criminal charges and the rest face immigration charges, which are considered administrative rather than criminal.
The United Food and Commercial Workers Union filed suit in Denver federal court, alleging the arrests of the 265 Greeley workers violated their constitutional rights to due process.
ICE has denied the charge.
ICE also raided Swift plants in Grand Island, Neb.; Cactus, Texas; Hyrum, Utah; Marshalltown, Iowa; and Worthington, Minn. The Denver lawsuit did not include workers arrested at those plants.
