Tom Vilsack misled about Swift raid, DHS cooperation?

Oh, please say it's just a miscommunication and Iowa governor and illegal immigration supporter Tom Vilsack didn't lie about the Swift immigration raids, which were held on December 12. A week later, Vilsack and Iowa National Guard Maj. Gen. Ron Dardis sent a strongly-worded letter to DHS head Michael Chertoff complaining about a "media blackout" and that they hadn't been informed of the "size and scope" of the raids. However, on December 4 the Iowa NG signed a rental contract with ICE indicating that they knew full well how big the raids were going to be.

First, here's a snippet of the letter (PDF):

...ICE's failure to advise the Iowa National Guard of the size and scope of the raid could have led to unacceptable risks to Guard personnel and property. Although the Guard was simply a space provider, your department's operations and lack of coordination put the Iowa National Guard into the national spotlight without the courtesy of providing them sufficient information or authority to plan and respond...

...ICE failed to provide any information to Iowa National Guard public affairs staff prior to and during the operation...

...In order to prevent similar or greater problems in the future, please note that the Iowa National Guard... will now require proper notification to the Governor and appropriate law enforcement personnel, as well as a thorough and synchronized media plan, before we again agree to provide any space for future actions or operations by ICE.

And, here's the details on the contract:

Immigration and Customs Enforcement planned to house up to 1,100 undocumented workers for as many 10 nights at Camp Dodge, according to a government contract.

The contract showed that would have cost ICE $32,000, but the site was used for fewer days last month and housed about 500 people who were arrested during the Dec. 12 raid at Swift & Co. meatpacking plants in Marshalltown and five other states.

The contract between ICE and the Iowa National Guard was dated Dec. 4 and prohibited guard officials from discussing it without permission from ICE.

The contract shows ICE reserved access to communications support, cleaning services, beds and 1,100 sets of linens...

The only out for Vilsack in this case is to either accuse Dardis of lying to him or to pretend that reserving 1100 sets of linens is not a good indication of the size of the raid.

Immigration · Wed, 01/03/2007 - 04:21 · Importance: 1