Dallas Mexican Consulate to discuss Pilgrim's arrests

By ADAM J. HOLLAND

Friday, May 02, 2008

The Mexican Consulate from Dallas will meet with Mount Pleasant residents Sunday to discuss an April 16 crackdown at the local Pilgrim's Pride processing plant, said a Pittsburg Spanish newspaper publisher.

Residents — family members of the 46 who were arrested, in particular — also will have a chance to get legal questions answered by attorneys, Felipe Herrador, publisher of El Tiempo Newspaper, said in a media release.

The workers were arrested on various identity theft charges by U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement officials at the plant.

All of them remain in jail, with trial dates tentatively scheduled for June, said Longview attorney Jose Sanchez.

Sanchez and Dallas lawyer Elizabeth Cedillo will be among those at the Sunday meeting, the release said.

Arrests at the Mount Pleasant facility were part of a year-long, five-state sting operation conducted by the agency that netted 400 employees at plants in Batesville, Ark., Chattanooga, Tenn., Live Oak, Fla., and Moorefield, W. Va.

According to a press release from Pilgrim's Pride, the arrested workers engaged in identity theft to fraudulently obtain employment with the company.

Sanchez says, however, that there is more to the story.

"Their intent was not to harm other people or screw up their credit," Sanchez said. "They didn't steal Social Security numbers. People obtain these (Social Security) numbers from a third party so they could work. They don't know whose number it is or where it came from."

All the workers involved in the Mount Pleasant investigation have been indicted by a Tyler federal court. Convictions could mean up to five years in prison with a maximum $250,000 fine, which would likely be followed by deportation to Mexico, Sanchez said.


If you go

What: Mexican Consulate meeting

When: 1 p.m. Sunday

Where: Tennison Memorial Church; 313 Church St.; Mount Pleasant

Cost: Free

Contact: (903) 575-9544

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