FAIR:

In coming months, President Bush will be trying to convince the American people that U.S. immigration laws just cannot be enforced. In truth, though, they will not be enforced-and his choice for Secretary of Agriculture demonstrates the point...

...The president's choice for Secretary of Agriculture, Mike Johanns, while Governor of Nebraska, used the power of his office to protect large meatpacking and agricultural interests in his state who employ thousands of illegal aliens and violate countless other labor and occupational safety regulations.

During 1998 and 1999, the Immigration and Naturalization Service launched a campaign known as Operation Vanguard in which they conducted audits of Nebraska meatpacking plant personnel files. The operation successfully drove-off many illegal aliens who were employed in these processing plants. Gov. Johanns, who has accepted large campaign contributions from large agri-businesses (2002 Campaign Finance Statement), stepped in on behalf of these contributors and pressured the U.S. Department of Justice to end these enforcement efforts...