Bean Station ICE raid: Slaughterhouse owner pleads guilty to hiring illegal workers
Bean Station ICE raid: Slaughterhouse owner pleads guilty to hiring undocumented workers
Matt Lakin, Knoxville News SentinelPublished 6:00 a.m. ET Sept. 12, 2018 | Updated 6:29 p.m. ET Sept. 12, 2018
Alberto Librado shares his and his family's experiences after his I.C.E. detainment. Caitie McMekin / News Sentinel, Knoxville News Sentinel
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(Photo: Travis Dorman / USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee)
GREENEVILLE – Whatever punishment James Brantley faces for hiring undocumented immigrants, he'll get to stay in the U.S.
He'll remain free on bond until sentencing.
The men and women who worked for him can't say the same.
"I can't help but note the irony," U.S. District Judge Ronnie Greer said Wednesday. "Many of these people were initially held without bond. Most of them have already served a period of four to six months in jail they most likely would not have served."
Brantley, 61, hired undocumented workers for years as the owner of the Southeastern Provision slaughterhouse in Bean Station until federal agents raided the plant this spring in the country's largest immigration raid in a decade. He pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges of tax evasion, wire fraud and employing unauthorized immigrants.
Brantley said little during his court appearance besides an occasional "Yes, sir," and "No, sir" to the judge's questions. He'll return to court for sentencing Feb. 4.
Profits and protest
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and IRS investigators raided the Southeastern Provision plant on Helton Road the morning of April 5 and rounded up 97 men and women on charges of illegal entry to the U.S. Most of the workers, natives of Mexico and Guatemala, had been living and raising families in the U.S. for a decade or more.
"This case was a criminal investigation from day one, not simply an immigration enforcement action," said Jere Miles, the ICE special agent in charge who oversaw the raid. "
https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/ad8...t=405&fit=cropYahel Salazar holds her son Moises Ramirez in their Rutledge, Tenn. home Wednesday, June 26, 2018. Salazar's husband Cristino Ramirez was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents when they raided the Southeastern Provision meat-packing plant where he worked outside Bean Station in April. (Photo: Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel)
Of those rounded up, 70 have returned to East Tennessee on bond — posted in full — to fight deportation as their cases percolate through federal immigration court, according to the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, which has helped raise funds for legal fees. Half a dozen remain behind bars in detention centers out of state. Most face waits of as long as two years to learn whether they'll be deported.
Eleven have given up and left the country.
Ten who'd been deported before await sentencing and eventual deportation in federal court.
"We believe it's important to hold employers accountable for this kind of abuse," said Sarah Margaret Hutchison, a board member of Allies of Knoxville's Immigrant Neighbors, which has worked to aid the families of those arrested in the raid. "But the workers who were being exploited and unfairly abused should not be collateral damage in enforcing justice."
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Families of workers detained in ICE raid demonstrate at Carson-Newman
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The raid set off protests statewide and led to failed attempts by state legislators to tighten punishments for business owners who knowingly hire undocumented workers. Families of those arrested asked in vain for an audience with Gov. Bill Haslam.
Meanwhile, Brantley will remain free until February at least, and pay no money down for bond.
"This does not make up for all these families disrupted and the injustice done to the people detained," said Elizabeth Stanfield, co-chair of Jobs With Justice of East Tennessee. "What's the price he's paying compared to all the people he's exploited and who face further injustice?"
A history of violations
Brantley began hiring undocumented workers as early as 1988, court records show. At first he didn't bother to ask for identification but last year began asking for Social Security numbers that he never tried to verify, prosecutors said. The managers on the killing floor encouraged workers to submit fake numbers, according to court records.
https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/ac4...t=405&fit=cropSoutheastern Provision, a cattle slaughterhouse in Bean Station, Tenn., was the target of a federal immigration raid that rounded up 97 people on April 5, 2018. (Photo: Travis Dorman / USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee)
Workers paid in cash made anywhere from $6 to $10 per hour killing livestock, skinning hides and gutting carcasses, and regularly worked well over eight hours per day without drawing overtime and amid dirty, dangerous conditions, according to court records.
The Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration ultimately fined Brantley $41,775 for violations that included failure to provide first aid and safety equipment, unsafe handling of chemicals and poor sanitation.
"We believe workplace raids like this just further instill a culture of fear that inhibits workers like these from reporting abuses," said Stanfield, the AKIN board member.
The plant also had a history of violating U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations and had been fined for shorting farmers on meat prices.
Restitution and reality
Brantley avoided paying nearly $1.3 million in federal payroll taxes over the past decade by hiring the undocumented crews, according to court records. His plea agreement calls for a forfeiture of nearly $1.5 million.
Yahel Salazar talks about her husband being detained by I.C.E. and how her family has dealt with the situation. Knoxville News Sentinel
Federal authorities have already seized more than $100,000 in cash from Brantley, along with a set of Nigerian driver's licenses, according to court records.
The charges carry a maximum total sentence of up to 25 years in prison, although Brantley most likely will be sentenced to far less based on federal court guidelines.
Potential fines could range up to half a million dollars, plus a $3,000 fine for each undocumented worker.
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