If not, you’d better find out sooner rather than later… otherwise, Uncle Sam may be hauling you off to the federal pen. This week, in a massive raid, federal agents arrested not only 1,100 illegals from a nationwide factory chain, but more importantly, arrested seven current and former managers of the company that employed the illegals. These men are faced with up to 10 years in prision and a $250,000 fine for each alien involved if convicted of the charges.

In announcing the raid, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff promised to “come down as hard as possible” on violators of our immigration laws. As for the aliens themselves, most of the 1,187 are being processed for deportation according to DHS officials. Also recently, the Department has had several other successful crackdown operations: nine Baltimore restaurant operators pleaded guilty on a variety of immigration laws; nine managers of two temp agencies in New Jersey, Ohio, and Pennsylvania were charged in a $5.3 million illegal alien scheme; and the Department is working to expand its influence. Congress is pondering appropriations for additional agents to conduct these investigations. There are currently 325 – with additional funding, that number could rise to 525 by year’s end.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a branch of DHS, also unvelied today a comprehensive immigration enforcement strategy for the nation’s interior. The strategy is the second phase of the President’s Secure Borders Initiative, and focuses on three goals, including identifying and removing illegal aliens from the country, enforcing employment laws and worksite compliance, and uprooting the criminal infrastructure smuggling and trafficing illegals into the country. One of the most prominent strategies outlined is punishment of employers who knowingly harbor illegal aliens.

Just for kicks, I Googled “dairy illegal immigrant” – I think you’ll be shocked at the number of stories and sites that reference the number of illegals working on our dairies. Interesting reading, to be sure.