You know, if you're looking for a laugh, the "blog" over at the Center for Union "Facts" has really been stepping up to the plate. The guy who writes it, Bret Jacobson, definitely knows how to bring the funny; he's clearly out to win the title of Epic Fail Guy. Here's an example.

On August 16th, one of our unions, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), held a public meeting in Omaha to discuss a worrying trend: the increasingly aggressive tactics being used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE -- the agency formerly known as the INS) to try and root out undocumented workers. Those tactics are so aggressive that they have resulted in thousands of innocent citizens being detained for questioning and having to prove to ICE's satisfaction that they are not undocumented -- just because ICE suspects that one of their co-workers is.

In the most recent case, 12,000 working people were rounded up at gunpoint by armed ICE agents and detained for no other reason than because ICE suspected some of them were undocumented.

UFCW International President Joe Hansen was at that meeting, and he summarized the absurdity of law enforcement investigating people just because of where they work thusly:

I ask you, what if ICE raided your workplace or your office, your plant, your school, your hospital -- wherever you work, whatever your job?

You could be rounded up, herded and placed in mass detention.  Why?  Because instead of doing the hard work of fixing our immigration system, our government seems intent on playing politics with immigration and in the process, trampling on our constitutional rights.

Showing up for work should not subject workers to being detained.  Showing up for work should not subject workers to be held without being allowed to contact family.  Showing up for work should not subject workers to be shipped off to a detention center in another state.

Work is not a crime.  Workers are not criminals. 

Hansen's statement pretty accurately summarizes the injustice that's being done to the thousands of citizens who have done nothing wrong except work with somebody ICE suspects of being here illegally. But you can count on Bret to miss the point:

Apparently there’s some disconnect, so let’s break it down. The crime isn’t the work. He’s right so far. But it is a crime to be in a country illegally. So, the statement is wrong, and meaningless.

Pssst.  Hey, Bret.  What about all the people -- U.S. citizens and legal immigrants -- who were rounded up and detained by ICE who weren't undocumented workers? Who were working completely legally and were nonetheless treated with police-state tactics?

People like Mike Graves, who said:

When I tried to report to the cafeteria during the raid, ICE agents accused me of trying to run away. They held me in handcuffs. I'm a U.S. Citizen, born in Iowa. My parents live in Mississippi. My government treated me like a criminal and I didn’t do anything wrong. I knew our rights were being violated. What they're doing in these raids is illegal.

And like Lidia Cruz:

I am a permanent resident but did not have my residency card on me the day of the raids. I was detained for five hours with no food or water. They took me to change my clothes and they made me do it in front of them. Even though there was only one exit, they still went in with me. They made me change with the stall door open.

And like Melina Martinez:

At the time of the raids, I was seven months pregnant. While I was detained, I was not allowed to go to the bathroom. They told me only after questioning would I be allowed to go. I waited four hours. They never asked me if I was a citizen or not. I am a U.S. citizen; I have been for more than a year and I’m proud to be.

A thought experiment. Say that ICE came to Bret's neighborhood and rounded him and everybody else up at gunpoint because they suspected one of his neighbors was here illegally. Would that help him understand Hansen's point?

Upton Sinclair already answered that one:

It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.

P.S. I would have left this as a comment on the Center for Union "Facts" "blog", except that they don't allow comments.  Says a lot, don't you think? Congratulations, guys, you fail at teh internets too!