Thread: 12 from SC Plant Raid Plead Guilty to Immig., Identity Fraud

12 plead guilty to immigration, identity fraud charges in poultry plant raid

By Eric Connor • STAFF WRITER • November 19, 2008

A dozen illegal aliens caught up in the federal investigation into hiring practices at the Columbia Farms poultry plant in Greenville pleaded guilty Wednesday to immigration and identity fraud charges -- and prosecutors say more will follow as the ongoing investigation unfolds.

The dozen from Mexico and Central America joined several before them who have been prosecuted in federal court in Greenville.

The charges followed what began as a federal inquest in November 2007 into the use of employment verification forms at the chicken-processing plant.

The investigation culminated this past October in a morning-shift immigration raid of the work site where 330 illegal immigrants were allegedly found to be working illegally.

On Wednesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Max Cauthen said that a handful of cases are pending, including an indictment against Elaine Crump, which alleges the human resources manager at the House of Raeford subsidiary encouraged employees to falsify employment forms.

The investigation is still under way and more charges could be filed, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin McDonald said.

Crump’s case has been held over until January.

U.S. District Judge Henry Herlong sentenced each of the 12 who appeared in court Wednesday to time served and ordered them to be deported immediately to their home countries of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.

Nain Zarate-Camarero and Victor Cruz-Soto were arrested outside the plant in July as federal agents were investigating the company’s use of I-9 forms, which are used to verify employment. Camarero and Soto pleaded guilty Wednesday to misusing social security numbers that belonged to other people.

Three others who pleaded guilty Wednesday to misusing social security numbers were caught in the October raid, brothers Abelardo and Roberto Dominguez, and Pedro Jorge-Gomez.

The remaining seven former plant workers in court Wednesday pleaded guilty to re-entering the country illegally after having been previously deported: Mateo Francisco- Sebastian, Juana Miguel-Juan, Ernesto Ignacio-Felipe, Marco Antonio Gomez-Lopez, Roberto Maradiaga-Gonzalez, Miguel Domingo-Paiz and Adilia Morales-Ruiz.

The rest of the 330 who were detained in the raid are either being held in Georgia or have been allowed temporary release on "humanitarian" grounds until deportation hearings commence.

http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article ... 001/NEWS01

It has gotten to the point where "humanitarianism" should be only directed toward American citizens and legal immigrants, IMO.
These people will just disappear into the population and start sucking the public dole again.