Thread: House of Raeford plant facing charges for illegals

Indictment could signal breakdown
Government typically tries to forgo company charges; Columbia Farms is an exception.
By Franco Ordonez
fordonez@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Saturday, Jul. 18, 2009

Federal agents executed a search warrant at the House of Raeford's Columbia Farms plant in Greenville, S.C., in 2008.

More Information
Special Report: The Cruelest Cuts

Federal charges against a company owned by House of Raeford Farms could signal that efforts to negotiate a settlement with the N.C.-based poultry company broke down, according to some legal experts.

A federal grand jury this week indicted Columbia Farms, a unit of the Raeford, N.C.-based private chicken processing company, with knowingly hiring illegal immigrants at a plant in South Carolina.

Since June 2008, federal officials have arrested workers and supervisors, raided the Greenville, S.C., plant, and charged the human resource manager and top manager with immigration violations.

In most similar cases, the government attempts to forgo prosecution of the company since the consequences can be substantial and often fall on innocent employees.

Typically, charges aren't brought against a company unless the government suspects a culture that tolerates or condones wrongful behavior.

“The analogy I often use is if its bad apples, you go after the bad apples,â€

Quote from the Oct. 08 raid news story "It was the largest immigration raid ever conducted in the Carolinas. It came after authorities determined that 777 of 825 workers at the plant had apparently submitted false documents to get their jobs."

777 out of 825 workers submitted false documents to get their job, that is over 94% of the workers at the plant show every indication of being ILLEGALS.

Quote from the current article "The family-run business is one of the nation's top chicken and turkey producers, with eight plants in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Louisiana, nearly $600 million in annual sales, and 6,000 employees."

The company has 6000 emplyees nationwide; 94% of 6000 = 5640 employees could be ILLEGALS based on the one plant.

All those jobs could have been or should be going to American workers. What are these employers thinking? Do they really think we want to eat food prepared by illegal foreign workers while our own citizens sit idle and unemployed?

Boycott these companies. Then they'll get the message.

Originally Posted by Judy

All those jobs could have been or should be going to American workers. What are these employers thinking? Do they really think we want to eat food prepared by illegal foreign workers while our own citizens sit idle and unemployed?

Boycott these companies. Then they'll get the message.

What are they thinking? Probably about the bottom line. Look, these companies could care less about America or its citizens! They only need us to purchase their goods! That's all we are to them. A wallet.

Typically, charges aren't brought against a company unless the government suspects a culture that tolerates or condones wrongful behavior.

Hmm...I wonder if 777 out of 825 workers who submitted false documents to get their job constitutes a culture that tolerates or condones wrongful behavior?

Good points, nobueno.

777 out of 825 workers submitted false documents to get their job, that is over 94% of the workers at the plant show every indication of being ILLEGALS.

Fool me once...shame on you! Fool me 777 times...someone should be getting indicted!!! So who is it? That's what we want to know!

Right!! They need indicted and the company set-up on mandatory E-Verify. There is no excuse today for any violations when E-Verify is readily available to these companies. Fine them so they know crime doesn't pay, pack the owners and manager off to jail for awhile and then replace the workers with US citizens.

Originally Posted by Judy

All those jobs could have been or should be going to American workers. What are these employers thinking? Do they really think we want to eat food prepared by illegal foreign workers while our own citizens sit idle and unemployed?

Boycott these companies. Then they'll get the message.

They are thinking how much money they will save by NOT hiring Amerians. They need to be fined BIG for hiring illegals.

If the companies are going to be fined and then have those fines turn into a tiny pittance, then whats the use? There should be heavy mandatory fines that cannot be lowered by any court. And the people that commit the crime of hiring illegal aliens need to do time like any other criminal.

Exactly April and Butterbean. Big fines that dip into their profit so they learn crime doesn't pay, betraying American Workers will not be tolerated, and awhile in jail will allow them to contemplate the cost they created for the United States and the American People by hiring people who aren't supposed to be in our country to begin with from increasing enrollment in schools, to increasing the cost of healthcare to increasing crime, needs for public services, and sucking our money supply out of the country by paying it to illegal aliens who will then send on average 25% of those payrolls to their homelands.

Those fines do indeed need to be "BIG".