The madness continues unabated out on the left coast. More than ten years ago, ICE raided a manufacturing plant in Los Angeles where it was suspected that the employer was hiring illegal aliens. They had a warrant and discovered well over 100 illegals working at the facility. They were all taken into custody and the process of deporting them began. But now, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that one of the men (who admitted to being in the country illegally at the time of the raid) should not be deported. This is being hailed by the ACLU as a victory for “immigrants” over the forces of ICE. (Associated Press)

A federal court ruled Thursday that a Mexican man who was arrested during an immigration sting at a Los Angeles manufacturing plant should not be deported, a rebuke that may influence how immigration authorities target factories and offices.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents stormed the premises of Micro Solutions Enterprises, a maker of printer cartridges, after getting a search warrant in February 2008 for employment-related documents and arrest warrants for eight employees. About 100 armed, uniformed agents entered the factory, blocking all visible exits and announcing that no one could leave or use their cellphones.

Gregorio Perez, who entered the country illegally from Mexico in 1994, was one of 130 workers arrested. He disclosed his status during questioning.

Both the plaintiff and the court, led by Clinton appointee Judge Marsha Berzon, are basing this decision on ICE’s warrant being wrongly worded. The original warrant authorized a search for the “employer’s records,” presumably their employment records. Those records would certainly be valuable in establishing whether or not they were knowingly hiring illegals and taking steps to get around their responsibility to verify their citizenship status when hiring them.

But let’s be serious here. If ICE shows up and finds more than one hundred illegal aliens on the premises, what do you expect them to do? They were clearly certain as to what was going on at that plant because they showed up with one hundred agents and multiple buses to transport the illegal aliens to a detention center for processing. It was the culmination of two years worth of investigations.

If ICE is knocking at your door looking for employment records, what do you suppose they’re trying to accomplish? If they show up and only ask for the records, ignoring the workers, they tip their hand and the illegal aliens will scatter to the wind. Besides, when they find someone in the country illegally, they take them into custody. That’s their job. If the police walk into a business and see a woman being sexually assaulted they don’t tell the rapist to carry on with his activities until they can send somebody out for a warrant.

This is yet another example of liberal activists at the ACLU and deranged judges on the Ninth Circuit seeking to undermine ICE and defy our immigration laws. And it needs to stop.