A raid on fairness

HELICOPTERS hovered overhead as immigration officials closed in on Agriprocessors, a meat-processing plant in Postville, Iowa, earlier this month. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials called it the nation's largest "criminal worksite enforcement operation," and 389 workers were arrested.

It's a hollow victory, a show of force but not of wisdom. As the country has seen many times, raids hurt local economies and disrupt families. Worse, they are largely theater. Even big raids are too limited to make a dent in the country's complex illegal immigration challenge, which means figuring out what to do with an estimated 12 million people already here illegally.

If the government wants to send a message, it ought to pay more attention to prosecuting abusive employers who hire undocumented immigrants and mistreat them by withholding pay or doling out verbal and physical abuse. So far, no officials at Agriprocessors have been charged.

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