Thread: ICE Busts Swift Processing Plants

I'd really like to head down there and to check out the scene for myself and take some pictures but can't get away from work. Might have to go down there for my lunch break.

Duece that would be great..... be sure and give us an update!!!

From the Rocky Mountain News - can't get the Trib article to open.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/l ... 17,00.html

ICE raids Swift plant
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By Rocky Mountain News
December 12, 2006
Federal agents carrying up to 100 pairs of handcuffs have entered the Swift & Co. beef packing plant in Greeley, the Greeley Tribune reports this morning.
Two large white buses, a few white vans and other buses are parked in the back of the building.

U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents are executing warrants to arrest illegal immigrants at the Swift plants in Nebraska, Texas, Utah, Iowa and Minnesota, in addition to Greeley.

Barbara Gonzalez, an ICE public affairs officer, told the newspaper there probably won't be a number on how many people were arrested until tomorrow.

She said Swift isn't facing charges at the present time.

"At this point, a civil search warrant allows us to search the premises to find any illegal aliens. The strong point here is that a lot of U.S. citizens and U.S. residents have been victimized ... by a large scale identify theft scheme," Gonzalez said.

This was published in the Greeley Tribune on the 8th
http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/2006 ... 5736279243
Workforce shuffle at Swift & Co.; company offering bonuses to new hires



Sharon Dunn, (Bio) sdunn@greeleytribune.com
December 8, 2006


Greeley's Swift & Co. is trying out signing bonuses to beef up a workforce thinned by concerns of employees' legality.

For the last month, the company has advertised signing bonuses of up to $1,500 for new employees, a new practice company spokesman Sean McHugh says is to compete in a tight labor market and to offset ongoing attrition.

"In northern Colorado, and every operation, the local unemployment rates are quite low, so we're competing for the same employees," McHugh said. Cargill Meat Solutions, a meatpacking plant in Fort Morgan, also has advertised in Greeley to find workers.

The bonuses come just months after the Colorado Legislature created tougher illegal immigration laws. The laws presumably resulted in fewer workers, as evidenced in the agriculture industry this summer when some farmers had to shut down fields.

But there may be some deeper issues with legality of workers.

While the company has offered the bonuses for the last month, some existing workers have been "placed out" by the company without cause, said Fernando Rodriquez, union director for the United Food and Commercial Workers Local No. 7. The concerns seem to be based on workers who the company suspects may have false documentation, though McHugh would not confirm any such occurrences.

"I could tell you that we do not have one documented case, not one peep of evidence that one person is illegal," Rodriquez said. "Everyone that's gone through the system has filed grievances. People have been placed out. Basically, our contract says they have to show just cause. ... We're asking why the company is doing what they're doing."
Swift has spent much of its last two years cutting its employee base due to lost profits from the closed Asian markets, a result of fears of mad-cow disease. Despite layoffs since December 2004, McHugh said today, Swift Greeley employs 1,700 people, a third of which turns over annually.

Though some of the larger Asian markets have reopened, it is too soon for Swift to fully recover, though its first-quarter financial reports showed the best performance since the initial ban in December 2003. In early October, the company announced it would scale back workers' hours to 37, but no less than 32 hours a week, the minimum allowed in its contract with UFCW.

Workers who have been displaced recently have filed grievances, but Rodriquez said he did not know how many there were. Likewise, McHugh would not comment.

"I'm going to decline to comment as we're currently working with UFCW to address their open concerns," McHugh said. "It's an open discussion now with the union. I haven't seen the grievances."

When people are hired at Swift, they go through the documentation checks through the federal I-9 form and the Basic Pilot program, an online federal database that crosses names and Social Security numbers, which has been deemed by many employers as top-notch. But it's not perfect. Swift's vice president of human resources testified in a Congressional committee meeting in September in Loveland asking local members of Congress for more help to ensure worker documentation is genuine.

Concerns of illegal aliens working at the Swift meatpacking company are not confined to Greeley. The company also has a meatpacking plant in Cactus, Texas, a town recently reported in the Dallas Morning News to attract "illegal immigrants by the thousands."

Last week, the News reported that Doug Schult, Swift's vice president for human resources, field operations and employee relations, said incidences of false documentation occurs about 12 times a year in Cactus at most. Cactus police chief Tim Turley, however, told the News that he fields frequent calls from identity theft victims who learn their names, Social Security numbers, birth dates and places were co-opted by workers at the beef plant.

I was thrilled to wake up and see this story on CNN. Looked like busses there but could have been vans. ID theft and the whole nine yards!!!! yippee! Made my day!

Wow, I must admit, I'm pleasently surprised at this turn of event. What took so darn long! Okay, now let's get the illegals hiding out ALL the meat processing plants.

Here is more info from Fox News.




http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,236044,00.html


Feds Raid 6 Swift and Company Meatpacking Plants in Apparent Illegal Immigration
Tuesday, December 12, 2006


GREELEY, Colo. — Federal agents raided six Swift & Co. processing plants in six states on Tuesday in search of illegal immigrants who stole the identities of lawful U.S. residents and used their Social Security numbers to get jobs at the beef and pork company.

Agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency executed search warrants at Swift's processing facilities in Greeley, Colo.; Grand Island, Neb.; Cactus, Texas; Hyrum, Utah; Marshalltown, Iowa; and Worthington, Minn.

ICE officials did not have an arrest total but said workers were being arrested on administrative immigration violations and in some cases, existing criminal arrest warrants. The warrants allow federal agents to arrest anyone at the plant who is in the United States illegally.

They said criminal charges of aggravated identity theft and other violations were possible.

A company statement obtained by FOXNews.com said all the facilities raided except the one in Hyrum are unionized. No civil or criminal charges have yet been filed against Swift or any current employees.

The company said every employee hired since 1997 have completed the proper forms and received proper work authorization from the government.



"Swift has never condoned the employment of unauthorized workers, nor have we ever knowingly hired such individuals," said Swift & Company CEO Sam Rovit. "Swift has played by the rules and relied in good faith on a program explicitly held out by the president of the United States as an effective tool to help employers comply with applicable immigration laws."

Swift said operations at its facilities have been temporarily suspended and expects that ICE will be finished interviewing employees by the end of the day. Once the company gets back up and running, the statement said, "production levels will depend on the number of employees, if any, detained for further interviewing or otherwise unable to return to work."

Swift said it's not sure how the 'employee interview process' will affect business or its operations.

"Any loss of a significant number of employees at any facility could adversely affect the operations of that facility until Swift is able to replace any lost members of its workforce and return to normal production levels," the statement read.

An investigation that began in February of this year indicated that large numbers of illegal immigrants may have used the Social Security numbers of U.S. citizens or residents to get jobs at Swift.

Immigration officials and the Federal Trade Commission have identified hundreds of potential victims, ICE said.

Representatives from ICE, the Department of Homeland Security, FTC and other agencies will be available to provide additional information on this law enforcement action at a press conference in Washington Wednesday.

With operations in Australia as well as the United States, Swift & Company is the country's third fresh meat processor behind Tyson Foods and Cargill Meat Solutions.

Once the meat-processing business of agriculture giant ConAgra, Swift was spun off and is now indirectly owned through various holding companies such as HM Capital Partners (formerly Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst) and Booth Creek Management.

Swift's customers include retail, foodservice and further-processing companies.

FOX News' Catherine Herridge and Liza Porteus and The Associated Press contributed to this report

"Swift has never condoned the employment of unauthorized workers, nor have we ever knowingly hired such individuals," said Swift & Company CEO Sam Rovit. "Swift has played by the rules and relied in good faith on a program explicitly held out by the president of the United States as an effective tool to help employers comply with applicable immigration laws."

Sounds as though they kept them on waiting for the amnesty. Swift closed their plants on May 1, 2005, for illegal parade that we all enjoyed so much.

Seaboard in Guymon, Oklahoma, a company owned by Cargill did the same.....Played by the rules......I need to see that rule book!!!

Wow what a wonderfull early Christmas present, think of how many
Americans are victims of ID theft. when Illegal aliens use your SS number
its not only for employment but ,drivers lic. loans,credit cards, school admission, medical records,and booking and bail enforcement.
When you get arrested for a crime you didn't commit, dunned for a debt
you didn't incur, turned down for a job,school tax refund etc. the nightmare then starts. We must keep the "HEAT on ICE in 07"

Lets hope this beginning salvo sends a strong message to all illegal
aliens.
Victims of ID theft have to endure so much stress restoreing there good name and credit.

I hope the criminals and there families have a stressful, bleak holiday.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16169899/

Immigration raids target ID thieves
Feds raid Swift meat-packing plants at six locations
BREAKING NEWS
NBC News and news services
Updated: 10:48 a.m. CT Dec 12, 2006
GREELEY, Colo. - Federal agents on Tuesday raided six meatpacking plants across the country, targeting illegal immigrants who obtained jobs by stealing the identities of U.S. citizens.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents had surrounded the Swift plant in Greeley as well as five other Swift plants. It was not immediately known how many people were rounded up in the raids.

Authorities say the investigation began in February and that they have identified hundreds of potential victims.

Similar raids were staged at Swift plants in Marshalltown, Iowa; Louisville, Ky.; Worthington, Minn.; Grand Island, Neb.; Cactus, Texas; and Hyrum, Utah.

Company complains
In a press release, Swift said the raids violate agreements it worked out with the federal government and could violate its workers' civil rights.

"Swift has never condoned the employment of unauthorized workers, nor have we ever knowingly hired such individuals. Since the inception of the (federal government's) Basic Pilot program in 1997, every single one of Swift's new domestic hires, including those being interviewed today by ICE officials, has duly completed I-9 forms and has received work authorization through the government's Basic Pilot program. Swift has played by the rules and relied in good faith on a program explicitly held out by the President of the United States as an effective tool to help employers comply with applicable immigration laws," the company said.

Swift, a global company with annual sales of more than $10 billion, added that five of the six facilities raided are unionized -- all except the one in Utah -- and that no charges have been filed against the company "or any current employees."

The six plants represent all of Swift's domestic beef processing capacity and 77 percent of its pork processing, the company said.

This report will be updated when information becomes available.

© 2006 MSNBC InteractiveThe Associated Press contributed to this report.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16169899/