Mumpower takes credit for blowing the whistle

From Staff Reports

Fifty-seven illegal aliens from Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador and Honduras were arrested early Aug. 12 at Woodfin-based Mills Manufacturing Corp., a Department of Defense contractor that makes parachutes for the U.S. military.

The largest-ever immigration raid and busts in Western North Carolina history were conducted by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of Investigations in Charlotte, better known by the acronym of ICE.

In the aftermath, Carl Mumpower, 11th District Republican Congressional candidate, took credit for tipping off immigration officials of the possible labor violation.

In a press release headlined “ICE action has brought jobs back from Mexico,” Mumpower also took the position “that at least 120 new jobs (for U.S. citizens) have resulted from the bust.”

Mumpower explained his numbers by noting that “Mills is rehiring for 57 positions and they are using the federal E-verify system to make sure that all employees are legal citizens.”

He added, “Down the street, Arvato (formerly Sonopress) had 60 people leave their job site when ICE raided Mills. To the credit of this company’s management, per information passed to our office by someone in the plant, those 60 people were subsequently fired, and now Arvato is in the process of rehiring. Like Mills, they are using the E-verify program to make sure that their new employees are legal citizens.”

Following the bust, 29 Mills Manufacturing workers with child-care issues and other family concerns were freed under order to appear in immigration court.

Others could be incarcerated in Charlotte, as well as in other states, while awaiting court hearings, according to federal officials.

Because the cases appear to be civil suits, instead of criminal proceedings, due process will be limited and the detainees will likely have little representation, immigration experts said.

“Protecting the integrity of our nation’s critical infrastructure is among ICE’s highest priorities,” Delburt Richburg, assistant special agent-in-charge of the ICE office in Charlotte, said in a press release after the raid.

“When individuals use fraudulent social security numbers to get jobs, they hide their true identity and history. We need to know who is working on our critical infrastructure sites.”

Richburg also stated, “Illegal aliens employed at sensitive facilities — such as military bases, nuclear plants, chemical plants, airports and Department of Defense contractors — pose a homeland security threat.”

Mills Manufacturing was not targeted and cooperated with the investigation, federal officials said. The company, which was established in 1935 in New York City by Ernest A. Mills, relocated to Asheville in 1952. It now bills itself as “the world’s leading quality military parachute manufacturer and the oldest American-owned military parachute manufacturer.” mills procudes airborne troop parachutes, cargo parachutes, extraction parachutes, deceleration parachutes and related items.

The company’s sewing machines are operating, but the delivery schedule will be hurt by the loss of the employees, Mills Manufacturing officials said. To bring its workforce up to its normal 175 employees, the company said it will have to hire to replace the arrested workers.