Last month, the ICE has its biggest immigration raid ever. Hundreds of undocumented workers were sentences, but not a single employer was called out by the law. As a result, critics are increasingly calling for employers to be held accountable, too:

"Until we enforce our immigration laws equally against both employers and employees who break the law, we will continue to have a problem with immigration," said U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, an Iowa Democrat whose district borders Postville.

"Even if you wanted to pursue an imbalanced enforcement-first strategy, the only thoughtful way to do it would be to go after employers, make examples of them and try to scare other employers into compliance," he said. "They're not doing that."

The Los Angeles Times reports today on healthcare problems at federal immigration detention centers, in a story they called "A lethal limbo for migrants."

From the article–

More than 70 immigrant detainees have died in custody since 2004, at least 13 of them in California, more than in any other state, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The reason may shock you. Unlike federal and state prisons, immigrant detention centers, many of which are run by private contractors, are not legally mandated to abide by any healthcare standards when it comes to treating sick immigrants. Civil and immigrant rights groups have filed suit in New York to force federal officials to issue such rules, but the Department of Homeland Security, which has jurisdiction in the matter, has yet to produce them. In the absence of legally binding standards, detained immigrants, such as Arellano, have no legal way to complain about the lax healthcare they receive at the facilities where they are held. They cannot appeal the denial of care or sue in federal court to obtain it.

What medical care is available is often delayed, or denied, while doctors and nurses at the facilities await approval from officials in Washington, who can deny crucial care without explanation.

Most of the 30,000 immigrants detained at these centers do not face criminal charges. Many are there for civil violations. Some have overstayed a visa. Others seek asylum. Still others are legal residents who suddenly could be deported because they have committed crimes that were formerly misdemeanors -- such as shoplifting -- but have been upgraded to felonies by a 1996 law that sought to deter illegal immigration by making it easier to deport those who are in the country illegally.

Detention at these centers is the fastest-growing form of incarceration in the U.S. in terms of the sheer number of detainees -- more than 300,000 in 2007 -- passing through the system.

Mike Keefe, Denver Post

Today's opinion selection comes from the editorial board of the New York Times, who titled their piece "The Great Immigration Panic."

From the piece—

Someday, the country will recognize the true cost of its war on illegal immigration. We don’t mean dollars, though those are being squandered by the billions. The true cost is to the national identity: the sense of who we are and what we value. It will hit us once the enforcement fever breaks, when we look at what has been done and no longer recognize the country that did it.

A nation of immigrants is holding another nation of immigrants in bondage, exploiting its labor while ignoring its suffering, condemning its lawlessness while sealing off a path to living lawfully. The evidence is all around that something pragmatic and welcoming at the American core has been eclipsed, or is slipping away.

(...) The restrictionist message is brutally simple — that illegal immigrants deserve no rights, mercy or hope. It refuses to recognize that illegality is not an identity; it is a status that can be mended by making reparations and resuming a lawful life. Unless the nation contains its enforcement compulsion, illegal immigrants will remain forever Them and never Us, subject to whatever abusive regimes the powers of the moment may devise.

Every time this country has singled out a group of newly arrived immigrants for unjust punishment, the shame has echoed through history. Think of the Chinese and Irish, Catholics and Americans of Japanese ancestry. Children someday will study the Great Immigration Panic of the early 2000s, which harmed countless lives, wasted billions of dollars and mocked the nation’s most deeply held values.

We found a nice round-up of differing opinions on immigration written to the editors of the New York Times, we thought would be worth sharing—

The suggestion that the bounty of our country is diminished by sharing it with less fortunate men, women and children from anywhere in the world is sickening. America is not about how much we have; it is about how much we share.

And then—

Truths: (1) The United States cannot support the rest of the world.

(2) One cannot blame the United States for trying to limit the influx of people across its borders.

(3) One can blame the United States for having allowed illegals to cross its borders illegally in the first place.

(4) One can blame the United States for applying inhumane methods of returning illegals to their countries, but

(5) One cannot blame the United States for trying to return those people who are within its borders illegally.

The Washington Post reports that federal prosecution of immigration violators has hit a record high. At the very least, minor charges are filed against nearly every person caught illegally crossing the border, the article says.

The prosections are part of a federal program called Operation Streamline. The program operates on the idea that the threat of prison and criminal record is a powerful deterrent to many who are considering entering the country illegally, officials say.

Currently, the program is in place in Texas and Arizona, but federal officials have plans to expand it to all states that border Mexico.

There are, of course, people who don't think the program is as effective as it may sound—

But Melissa Wagoner, a spokeswoman for Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), said there is a shortage of jail beds and public defenders in areas where the program is operating. "Operation Streamline in its current form already strains the capabilities of the law enforcement system past the breaking point," she said.

Others note that, historically, immigration violations have been processed by U.S. administrative courts. Criminalizing illegal immigration while turning a blind eye to employers who provide the jobs that lure migrants makes for good election-year politics but poor policy, said T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council.