Immigration dereliction

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Utahns got an up-close look at our failed immigration system Tuesday, when 145 people were arrested at a Cache Valley meat-processing plant. Of those arrested, 114 were detained on immigration-violation charges and the other 31 for criminal offenses -- identity theft, according to federal agents.

The company in question, Swift & Co., maintains it believed the workers were legal, and indeed has been a participant in a Department of Homeland Security program to verify whether or not Social Security numbers were valid. Apparently, while the program could offer an answer as to the number's legitimacy, it could not verify that the person working at the plant was, indeed, the person who rightfully belonged to the number.

There's a term for that: practically useless.

But the ineffectiveness of a government program designed to help employers vet the legality of their workers is only one of the problems made obvious in this situation.

The fact is, the Top of Utah's jobless rate is a scant 2 percent. Employers are looking high and low for good workers for all sorts of jobs. (Swift & Co. told The Associated Press this immigration sweep at its plants nationwide could reduce its 13,000-strong work force by about 40 percent.) And since this nation's Congress has so far lacked the political will to create a necessary guest-worker program to employ foreign nationals, there exists a booming, illegal business in identity theft to satisfy illegals' need to supply actual Social Security numbers for job applications.

The consequences of this identity fraud are obvious -- living, breathing, law-abiding U.S. citizens are having their financial identities stolen and otherwise abused to service this underground economy. If these workers could cross the border, register to work legally and/or temporarily, with a pathway to citizenship for some, the market for ID theft to serve illegal immigrants would be severely curtailed.

Don't misunderstand our position. The laws of the United States must be obeyed. When people are breaking the law, they must be held accountable and suffer the appropriate penalties.

But the immigration system of this country is such a mangled mess, it is creating a set of expensive problems for law enforcement and immigration agencies, as well as victimized American citizens.

It may be too much to hope for, but maybe the next Congress will pass reforms that fix the current system.

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