From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

Rough jobs, illegal immigration, and identity theft.

Hello again, I'm Warren Alney, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International,

the daily look of the issues, Americans care about most.

Horrendous working conditions and meatpacking plants were exposed by Upton Sinclair's book

The Jungle in 1906.

100 years later, the plants are staffed mostly by recent immigrants, both legal and illegal.

Last week, the federal government rated plants in six states looking for evidence of identity theft.

Just 100 charges were filed against 1,200 people. On to the point, scattered families are trying to get back together,

where meat packing is all that keeps whole towns together. Will the incident spark immigration reform in the new Congress?

On reporter's notebook later on, the aftermath of Saturday night's brawl at Madison Square Garden.

First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio

International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John D. and

Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Hello again, Mormon Alney. Back with To the Point. Meatpacking

plants in six states were involved last week in the biggest workplace enforcement operation in U.S.

history. On To the Point, were legal workers caught up in raids that divided parents and children?

Will Swift and company be charged

for hiring illegal immigrants. On reporter's notebook, the National Basketball Association's leading

scorer suspended for 15 games. First this news update, former CIA director Robert Gates was

sworn in today to replace Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense.

Gates said he'll go to Iraq.

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