Mass Arrests in Western, U.S.

Immigrant families have been racing about, trying to locate detained family members and relatives. They have been trying to recover from a string of raids this week, on meat-packing industries in six different states by immigration officers. The raids were said to be part of a federal operation against identity theft. Both legal and illegal immigrants were arrested for a grand total of 1,282. In Cactus, Texas, 275 employees were arrested. There were 230 arrests in Worthington, Minnesota. Most of the families of people who were detained, went into hiding to save themselves. The raids targeted hundreds of immigrants who were legal citizens, but did not carry their papers with them to work. The illegal immigrants were told they must leave the country or face deportation. They have not been allowed to contact any members of their family and are being treated as criminals.

Some of you might not see how this story has any link to history at all. However, the connection that was found was one of great similarity. The manner in which the immigrants are being taken from their jobs and bussed to immigrant detention camps is bitterly reminiscent of the way the Jews were treated precedent to the Holocaust. They were plucked from their businesses or place of employment and sent to detention camps and were separated from their families. They were also treated like criminals but had no reason to be. The Jews were targeted by the Nazis ever since Hitler came to power, thus sparking the Holocaust.