Thread: 13 illegal immigrants arrested at Smithfield Foods' plants

13 illegal immigrants arrested at Smithfield Foods' plants
The workers, who all had falsified work documents, are preparing to be deported.
By PATRICK LYNCH
247-4534
January 10, 2006, 6:05 PM EST
SMITHFIELD - -- Immigration officials arrested 13 illegal immigrants from Mexico and Guatemala last week at Smithfield Foods' two packing plants in Smithfield.

The arrests came on Thursday, after weeks of investigation that proved the identification documents the immigrants supplied to get their jobs were falsified, said a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which made the arrests.

Smithfield Foods cooperated with the investigation and does not face any charges, the spokeswoman said. The only way the company would have faced charges is if immigration officials could prove the company hired the workers knowing they were in the country illegally and were not authorized to work here, the spokeswoman said.

Twelve of the immigrants were from Mexico and one was from Guatemala. They are in varying stages of being deported.

Immigration officials, who would not say how they learned about the workers at the Smithfield plants, are still trying to determine how long the workers were in the country. They also said that they are continuing the investigation by studying every I-9 form -- which verifies an immigrant's eligibility to work in the U.S. -- that Smithfield Foods has on file for its local employees.

In a statement from company spokesman Jerry Hostetter, Smithfield Foods said it has volunteered to take part in a federal pilot program that seeks to better verify the identification immigrants offer when applying for a job.

The company also said that nine of the immigrants were working at the Gwaltney plant and the other four worked at the Smithfield Packing plant.

WAVY TV-10 contributed to this report.

http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/dp ... 8617.story

In a statement from company spokesman Jerry Hostetter, Smithfield Foods said it has volunteered to take part in a federal pilot program that seeks to better verify the identification immigrants offer when applying for a job.

Very admirable of them! BUT, this should NOT be a CHOICE. EVERY COMPANY should be participating in this program. We don't have the LUXURY of time for PILOT PROGRAMS. We need a program in place YESTERDAY that is MANDATORY. I guess this is another Chertoff effort??

Smithfield Foods cooperated with the investigation and does not face any charges

And as long as they don't, they will find 12 more to replace them. Very disappointing for Smithfield.

Don't ever forget the Pro-Illegal Abuse Toward Americans!

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