Burning Atlanta

There are few supporters of illegal immigrants as notible as the Catholic Church. Gee, you think it might have something to do with so many illegals being Catholic? Ya' think? What, you don't think they'd be so supportive if most illegals were Muslims? This story has more twists than a choir boy's undies.

Smithfield

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Operations slowed at a Smithfield Foods Inc. slaughtering plant in North Carolina on Friday after hundreds of workers, mostly Hispanics, walked off their jobs to protest the recent firing of immigrants for allegedly providing false documents

*At issue is the company's decision to comply with a request from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to gather the names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth and gender of workers at the plant. About 500 to 600 workers were found to have unverifiable information, and the company has fired about 50 so far for providing false information, Pittman said.

*At the workers' request, Smithfield officials will meet Friday afternoon with representatives of the Catholic Church to explain and discuss the matter, Pittman said, adding that the company had temporarily halted efforts to gather workers' information.

"Smithfield fired these workers following a spate of activities in which workers began to stand up and demand their rights," said Gene Bruskin, a representative of the union who serves as the Smithfield campaign director. "The timing reeks of Smithfield's continued pattern of intimidation and fear."