Attorney defends actions during 2006 Swift raids
By KEN BLACK
TIMES-REPUBLICAN
POSTED: January 10, 2009
U.S. Attorney Mathew Whitaker speaks to the Marshall County Pachyderm Club Friday. Whitaker said he was proud of his time in office, including his part in the immigration raid at the Marshalltown Swift & Co. meatpacking plant.
U.S. Attorney Matthew Whitaker defended his actions during the Swift immigration raids in Marshalltown in 2006 and said he was happy with the number of criminals taken off the street.
"It's a constant battle," Whitaker said. "The forces of good are cooperating as best we can."
Whitaker said that while there may have been some mistakes made, overall the raids took care of a serious problem.
"When immigration comes to me and says, 'We have 664 people at a plant in Marshalltown and we don't know who they are,' I hope you would expect we would do something about that and we did," he said.
Identity theft is a serious problem across the country and some of it stems from undocumented workers, according to Whitaker. It can not only cause tax problems, but credit problems as well.
In addition, it becomes a matter of national security, especially after the terrorist attacks in 2001.
"We just cannot have people in our country that we don't know who they are," he said.
The U.S. attorney also believes the raid had a net positive benefit in Marshalltown, claiming the average starting wage went from $8 per hour before the raids to $10 per hour after the raids.
Whitaker also said he was pleased with the focus the office has had in recent years on crimes against children. He hopes there is continued focus on that area after he leaves.
He believes the Obama Administration will likely have a replacement for him within a few months, if not sooner.
"In this position, you serve at the pleasure of the president and we all knew that going in," he said. "I would expect, within four to six months, to have moving on to other opportunities."
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