Napolitano demands review of ICE raid at Bellingham plant

The Obama administration is demanding answers from local immigration-enforcement agents who raided an engine plant in Bellingham, arrested 28 illegal immigrant workers and began the process to deport them.

The work-site raid at Yamato Engine Specialists by agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday was the first since President Obama took office. It also is believed to be the first time in this era of heightened immigration enforcement that a presidential administration has publicly demanded a review of the actions of officers in the field.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told lawmakers during a Wednesday hearing in Washington, D.C., that she did not know about the raid before it happened.

She has asked ICE for answers.

"In my view," she said, "we have to do workplace enforcement, and it needs to be focused on employers who intentionally and knowingly exploit the illegal labor market. I want to get to the bottom of this as well."

In the past, ICE has said it's more difficult to build a criminal case showing an employer knowingly hired an illegal immigrant than it is to prove that an immigrant is working in the United States illegally.

That's in part because current federal law does not require employers to verify the immigration status of prospective workers, so many simply accept at face value the documents workers give them.

Exploiting "the illegal labor market impacts American workers, has an impact on wage levels and often has an impact on the workers themselves," Napolitano said Wednesday.

ICE, one of many agencies within the Department of Homeland Security, issued a statement Wednesday saying the work-site investigation at Yamato was triggered by information obtained from two gang members previously arrested by agents.

The statement said the raid was conducted "to identify and, if appropriate, apprehend any unauthorized workers and to further determine potential criminal activity."

Those who support immigration enforcement said it's crucial that ICE be allowed to continue these work-site actions — especially as more Americans and legal residents lose their jobs.

"Clearly, these raids are having a beneficial effect in discouraging employers from hiring illegal immigrants, which is what the president himself has said he's wanted all along," said Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform. "It's disingenuous to say on one hand that we need to eliminate the magnet of jobs and then turn around and curtail enforcement action against their employment."

The 28 men and women arrested Tuesday are from Mexico or Central America — about one-quarter of Yamato's work force. Officials from ICE said most had used false Social Security numbers and other forms of identification to gain employment.

Yamato is run by a family of immigrants who fled violence in Uganda nearly 40 years ago. Co-owner Shirin Dhanani Makalai said the company had been cooperating with ICE investigators reviewing employment documents and was blindsided by the raid.

Makalai said Wednesday she was encouraged by Napolitano's decision. "We are continuing to cooperate with ICE," Makalai said.

On Wednesday morning, hundreds of people showed up at the Yamato plant to apply for jobs, and Makalai said the company is being cautious as it goes about hiring replacement workers.

The Bellingham raid forces the new administration's hand on the controversial and politically divisive issue of what to do about the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country.

Obama had said during his campaign that he wanted enforcement priorities to shift to unscrupulous employers and that he also wanted to bring about a reform of the immigration system.

Pramila Jayapal, executive director of the advocacy group OneAmerica, said a network of support organizations contacted policy makers on Capitol Hill in the hours after the raid to express their concerns.

"We'd like to see the administration call for a moratorium on these raids and these harsh enforcement actions that don't solve anything," Jayapal said.

Lornet Turnbull: 206-464-2420 or lturnbull@seattletimes.com