2/4/2006

By Venita Jenkins and Jennifer Plotnick
Staff writers
The Fayetteville Observer

Carmen Salgado knew something was wrong when her husband didn’t stop by to see her when his shift ended at Smithfield Packing Co.

It was something he did every day. He would stop and say hello, tell her that he was done for the day and that he would be waiting for her when she finished work. The couple always rode home together, she said.

But on Jan. 24, Salgado’s husband broke his routine.

Salgado is a meat packer at the hog-processing plant just outside the Bladen County town of Tar Heel. Her husband was a meat cutter.

What Salgado didn’t know was that her husband was one of 21 employees arrested earlier that day by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials on administrative charges. Administrative charges include being in the U.S illegally or overstaying a work visa.

Salgado spent nearly six hours searching the plant for her husband, whose name she did not provide.

It wasn’t until she gave up her search at the plant and returned home that she learned he had been detained.

Friends heard about the arrests during Mass at a Catholic church in Lumberton and called to console her. They thought she knew.

Eight days after her husband’s arrest, Salgado sat in the living room of the couple’s mobile home outside of Rennert and talked about that day. Her eyes often glanced toward a table filled with religious candles and images of Jesus and the Virgin Mary.

Salgado hasn’t returned to the plant since her husband’s arrest. She and other workers feel betrayed, she said. The company she and her husband worked for for the past 10 years should have helped, she said.

Anger, fear and confusion have been paramount in the Hispanic community since immigration officials made the arrests.

Immigration officials did not give updates on the 20 men who were taken to Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Ga. They face removal from the country.

One woman who was detained was temporarily released. The woman, a mother of three, declined to be interviewed by The Fayetteville Observer. She is scheduled to appear in federal court in Atlanta in March on illegal entry charges.

The question on people’s minds is whether immigration officials will head back to the area.

Workers fear a raid at the plant and in the community is on the horizon. That fear was evident last week when many Hispanics changed how they went about their daily routines.

Some parents kept their children home from school. Businesses frequented by Hispanics saw a drop in patronage. Some people agreed to talk only on the condition that their full names not be used.

“Generally, there are lots of people this time of day,” said German, a clerk at a Mexican grocery in Dublin. “Very few people are coming in. What happened at Smithfield is exactly why they are not coming. A majority of people who are undocumented are afraid.”

The soccer fields just off Interstate 95 and N.C. 41 in Lumberton — usually filled with players — saw little activity last weekend.

Those who attended Mass the Sunday after the arrests came mainly for information, said Father Carlos Arce, priest of St. Andrew Catholic Church in Red Springs.

“There is a collective panic in the community,” Arce said.

“Some said they may go back to Mexico because it is unsafe. These arrests could happen at any time.”

Many of the workers have turned to the church for guidance. The church has served as a resource in getting information to workers about their rights and what to do if immigration agents arrive at their doors.

More than 100 Hispanics attended a meeting Monday night at St. Andrew. A majority of those who spoke talked about the need for the Hispanic community to unite and be better organized in order for their concerns to be heard by legislators.

Smithfield efforts
The day after immigration officials were at the plant, Smithfield placed ads on Spanish radio stations asking Hispanic workers to return to their jobs. The ads said immigration officials left the area the same day as the arrests.

Some workers returned that Saturday, but a majority of them walked out after lunch because of rumors that immigration was still there.

One Smithfield worker recently talked about the tension.

“Most of the people returned to work Saturday, but the atmosphere was different,” he said. “Many couldn’t clear their minds. Everyone was tense. They were worried about their families and how their routine was going to change. ... Some try to act like nothing happened, but it’s hard. You can see it on their faces.”

Company officials continued their efforts all week to convince workers that immigration agents were gone. Smithfield distributed a notice to employees Wednesday saying how unfortunate the events have been and that the company’s production has suffered. It also attempted to reassure employees that the company did not hand over undocumented workers.

Managers Larry Johnson and Ken Wilson told employees in the notice: “We did NOT give ICE the names of people to arrest and we are NOT responsible for any of this. This is the federal government doing what it has decided to do.”

The entity told the plant it was coming to question employees, and Smithfield cooperated.

Smithfield participates in the ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers program, or IMAGE. The program flags employees when there is a mismatch between their name, Social Security number, date of birth and gender.

Immigration officials have not levied any fines against Smithfield, said Dennis Pittman, the company’s spokesman.

The notice also reminded employees that Smithfield was complying with immigration officials in hopes of avoiding a raid like the ones last year at the Swift meat-processing plants where 1,300 people were arrested. Agents raided Swift plants in six states Dec. 12.

Despite the company’s pleas, some workers have opted to quit and relocate instead of taking a risk, said Ricardo, who has worked at the plant for three years. Ricardo, who did not give his last name, spoke from his home outside of Dublin.

He estimates about 20 percent of the Hispanic workers have left the company. Ten people work on his line and five have quit, he said. Three more were planning to work out the week.

Workers are constantly looking over their shoulders, Ricardo said.

“You don’t know when immigration is going to pop up,” he said.

Smithfield officials estimated that 200 to 250 of the company’s approximate 5,200 employees were absent from work each day last week. Pittman said he didn’t know if the absent workers were Hispanic. On a typical day, 100 to 125 people are absent.

“It doesn’t matter to us what race or gender they are,” he said.

The plant is recruiting to fill positions left open by people who haven’t shown up for work for three or more days, he said. The plant seems to be experiencing an increased amount of turnover, he said, but the reason is unclear.

“I don’t know what to pin it to,” Pittman said. “... I can’t tell you how many are gone for any particular reason.”

The lack of workers has caused production to run slower, but Pittman said he expected the plant to have caught up Saturday.

“We will net out fine for the week,” he said.

Specific leads
It’s likely ICE knows which Smithfield employees are here illegally since it received specific information that led to the arrests of the 21 people.

Immigration officials also are aware that Smithfield is slated to start terminating about 500 workers over the next few weeks whose documentation did not match through the IMAGE program.

“We are an investigative law enforcement agency — there’s a concept we roam the streets like beat cops, but our actions are based on specific leads,” said Tim Counts, a spokesman for ICE in Washington.

Rumors have spread throughout the community that immigration will shift its focus to neighborhoods populated with Hispanics, which has many undocumented immigrants on edge.

On Wednesday night, there was little activity at a mobile home park about nine miles from the Smithfield plant. A majority of the park’s residents are Hispanic.

Residents peeked out their front windows when they heard cars pass. Some refused to answer the door when a reporter knocked to ask questions about Smithfield.

“They say immigration is coming in two weeks to do a sweep,” said Carol, who lives in the mobile home park. “If you don’t have documents, you will be gone. This neighborhood is quiet today because everyone is scared.”

There also is concern about ICE going to people’s homes and picking up family members.

ICE officials could go to people’s homes, but they will likely only do so for specific people they have information about, said Monica Guizar, an employment policy lawyer with the National Immigration Law Center in Los Angeles. Publicly, ICE is focused on targeting certain employers and workers, so it would be bad for its image to conduct random raids in people’s homes, Guizar said.

“I don’t think there should be the feeling ICE will come in and raid people’s homes without cause,” she said.

ICE officials target people who are immigration violators, such as those who entered the country with a valid visa but let it expire, those who received prior orders for deportation and never left, and those with criminal convictions, Guizar said. ICE also goes after illegal immigrants who steal other people’s identities.

El Pueblo Inc., a nonprofit statewide advocacy and public policy agency in Raleigh, has been following the situation in Smithfield.

“It’s disheartening about what is happening and the fear that is permeating where you see the raids happening,” said M. Zulayka Santiago, executive director of El Pueblo.

“It’s just a reflection of the desperate need for the federal government to address this in a comprehensive manner.”

Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre, whose district includes Bladen and Robeson counties, said immigration laws must be followed.

“Enforcement of the law and our system of justice not only respect those who abide by the law, but also protect our communities from overwhelming costs which drain them of much needed resources for education, law enforcement and health care,” McIntyre said in a statement. “For those who want to enter our country legally, there is a proper process. Our office has helped and will continue to help those who follow the rules.”

There are some who say the arrests at Smithfield are long overdue. Those who were picked up were violating the law, they say.

“Illegal aliens have put themselves and their families in this situation by breaking the law,” said William Gheen, spokesman for Americans for Legal Immigration, which is based in Raleigh.

Gheen’s political committee had been calling on ICE to raid Smithfield after it admitted having hundreds of illegal immigrants on its workforce. This week, Gheen plans to start another campaign asking ICE to arrest more workers.

“Let’s get them while we know where they are,” he said. “... Arresting 21 people out of hundreds is ICE not doing their job.”

Santiago and others are telling undocumented workers they should be prepared in the event of more arrests. That includes having a plan that addresses who would have custody of the children if parents are deported, how to go about paying bills and what to do with their homes and property.

Keeping faith
Salgado, whose husband was among the 21 arrested, said her husband told her to sell everything and return to Mexico. She talked with him four days after his arrest.

The couple has two daughters, ages 7 and 14.

“Without him, this house is empty,” Salgado said. “We used to eat together every day. Each person has their own chair and his is empty. What can I do? I just don’t know.”

Salgado said she reminded her husband to have faith.

“I think I might stay and wait for him,” she said. “If God didn’t want me to be here in the United States, I would have died in the desert crossing with my daughter in my arms. ... I don’t plan to leave here.”

Staff writers Greg Barnes and Ed Panas contributed to this story.

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