A few items:

1) Smithfield (and Swift and Tyson) had voluntarily participated in employment verification programs set up by the government to vet new hires.

2) You ain't seen nothin' yet. Under new rules, scheduled to take effect next month, businesses with workers whose Social Security numbers don't match their names could face criminal charges and hefty fines. Growers, for instance, will have to decide whether to shut down, move operations somewhere with a steady supply of legal workers--why does Mexico come to mind?--or pay illegals off the books and hope they're not raided.

Likely outcomes--more people working off the books entirely--many have families here and thus can't easily return to "country of origin"-- ( in the facile phrase of the restrictionists)--and thus more vulnerable than ever to exploitation.

And crops rotting in the fields.

And as has been noted, as far as we know no jihadist has been turned up by these raids.


3) NB, this--pressure on employers--is what many have suggested as the solution to the illegal immigration problem----- many, including, unfortunately, some Mudcatters.