Nationwide Illegal Immigrant Raid

Associated Press | December 13, 2006
Paul Foy

SALT LAKE CITY -- Federal agents raided meat processing plants in six states on Tuesday, arresting suspected illegal immigrants accused of buying or stealing Social Security numbers and other identification required to get U.S. jobs.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents said it might be Wednesday before they know how many workers were arrested at the plants, all operated by Greeley-based Swift & Co., which describes itself as the world's second-largest meat processor.

ICE chief Julie L. Myers told reporters in Washington that hundreds of U.S. citizens and legal residents may have had their identities stolen in a scheme designed to help illegal immigrants get jobs at Swift. She said the scheme involved illegal immigrants and others.

No charges had been filed against Swift. In a written statement, President and CEO Sam Rovit said the company has never knowingly hired illegal workers and does not condone the practice.

Swift uses a government pilot program to confirm whether Social Security numbers are valid. Company officials have raised questions about the program's ability to detect when two people are using the same number.

ICE raided Swift facilities in Greeley; Grand Island, Neb.; Cactus, Texas; Hyrum, Utah; Marshalltown, Iowa; and Worthington, Minn., representing all of Swift's domestic beef processing capacity and 77 percent of its pork processing capacity.

"It shut down the whole plant," said Rolando Murillo, a businessman who was visiting Hyrum, 60 miles north of Salt Lake City in Cache County, where Swift employs more than 1,000 workers.

More than 80 workers were arrested, Murillo and other Latino leaders said. There was no immediate confirmation of any arrest figures from ICE officials.

Murillo said he was keeping an appointment with the principal of Hyrum's high school when he found about 100 Hispanic students "crying and breaking up" in the hallways.

"It's making a big impact. They are taking mothers and fathers, and we're really concerned about the children," said the Rev. Clarence Sandoval, pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Parish in nearby Logan. "I'm getting calls from mothers saying they don't know where their husband was taken."

Most Hispanic workers at the Swift plant attend St. Thomas Aquinas Church. Sandoval said he was told that workers were taken to a detention center where they would be allowed to make one phone call.

A sheriff's deputy described the scene outside the Swift plant early Tuesday as a circus.

"They've got three buses, a bunch of transport vans, a lot of cars and 150 or so agents," said Cache County's chief deputy, David Bennett.

ICE officials didn't notify the sheriff's department about the raid.

"They didn't ask for our help," Bennett said. "We were lucky to find out."

Swift & Co. describes itself as an $8 billion business and the world's second-largest meat processing company. The Hyrum plant can process up to 2,200 cattle a day, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

In Salt Lake City, Hispanic leaders met with U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman for more than an hour.

"The fact that he invited all the leaders of the community speaks highly of him," said Tony Yapias, director of Proyecto Latino de Utah. "We asked him to expedite the cases."

Yapias said the raid underscores the need for a national solution for immigration. Many Hispanics have been drawn to Utah and other states for jobs. The Pew Hispanic Center estimates Utah's population of illegal immigrants at 75,000 to 100,000 people.

Yapias and others said they planned to travel to Logan on Wednesday to assess family needs because immigration raids break up families.

Melodie Rydalch, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office, said Tolman wasn't releasing any immediate statement on the raid.

http://www.swiftbrands.com/

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