Thread: Immigration raid targets Smithfield Foods

By Kristin Collins, Staff Writer
Federal immigration enforcement officials are conducting an ongoing raid in the counties surrounding the Smithfield Foods pork slaughterhouse in Bladen County.

Officials at the plant said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials took some workers out of the plant at 4 a.m., and that arrests have continued in neighborhoods in four counties.

ICE spokesman Richard Rocha said this afternoon that the raid was not finished and that he couldn't say yet how many arrests had been made. Rocha said those being arrested are suspected of identity theft.

This is the second time this year that employees of the Smithfield plant, which is the world's largest pork slaughterhouse, have been the target of immigration raids.

In January, 21 employees were arrested on the job. After those arrests, the company fired more than 500 workers whose Social Security numbers didn't match up with federal records.

Plant spokesman Dennis Pittman said the plant has done everything it can to root out illegal immigrants. But he said the government gives them no tools to catch people who buy the Social Security numbers of U.S. citizens, a practice that has become relatively common.

"If someone has truly bought a complete identity, there's no way we can catch it," Pittman said.

Smithfield is one of several meatpacking plants around the country that has come under federal scrutiny since an immigration crackdown began nearly a year ago.

Staff writer Kristin Collins can be reached at 919-829-4881 or kristin.collins@newsobserver.com.

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/678995.html

YEA

Yea, keep picking them up and putting them down on their own side of the border. Steeling Americans identity is one of the worst crimes as far as i'm concerned they practically ruin these peoples lives and cause Americans so much trouble!!


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ALIPAC AUGUST FUND RAISER
PLEASE help ALIPAC stay in the fight against illegal immigration!!!!
http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... ic&t=75673
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
WHAT WOULD WE DO WITHOUT ALIPAC???

only X amount millions to go.

Identity Fraud. This is why I have to pay $9.95 a month to make sure some illegal isn't using my SS # to work. Why do I have to pay for that??

I also have to pay EXTRA for Uninsured Motorist insurance, in case I get hit by an illegal alien.

THIS IS JUST PLAIN WRONG! Why do I have to pay extra for something I am already paying thru my payroll taxes for the government to do????

Federal Immigration Agents Raid Smithfield Foods Plant in North Carolina

Posted: Aug. 22 7:21 p.m.

TAR HEEL, N.C. — Federal immigration agents conducted raids at a Smithfield Foods Inc. slaughterhouse and in neighborhoods in four surrounding counties on Wednesday, arresting between 20 to 30 people suspected of identity theft, authorities said.

Smithfield spokesman Dennis Pittman said company officials learned about the raid not long before federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrived at about 4 a.m. to remove some workers from the world's largest hog processing plant.

"We were told that they would be coming in. We didn't know for sure how many folks they would be getting," Pittman said. "We couldn't even tell our staff."

In January, immigration agents arrested 21 plant employees. Smithfield also sent letters to between 500 and 600 employees whose Social Security numbers, names or other personal information couldn't be verified. The company also fired about 50 workers, saying they provided false information.

That let to a walkout in which about 1,000 workers, most of them Hispanic, left in protest. They were supported by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which has tried to organize the plan for more than a decade.

Smithfield agreed to rehire the fired workers and letter recipients, who received a grace period to resolve discrepancies in their identity information. When that time expired, Smithfield officials said about 300 workers quietly left their jobs or quit showing up for work.

"Work site law enforcement and other ICE actions around identity and immigration issues are a symptom of a failed immigration system, and no substitute for comprehensive reform," the union said in a statement. "They represent a form of political theater that ends in real human tragedy - the devastation of communities, breakup of families and the defilement of fundamental American values."

About 5,000 employees slaughter up to 32,000 hogs a day at the plant, located about 80 miles south of Raleigh.

http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/1732308/

"Work site law enforcement and other ICE actions around identity and immigration issues are a symptom of a failed immigration system, and no substitute for comprehensive reform," the union said in a statement. "They represent a form of political theater that ends in real human tragedy - the devastation of communities, breakup of families and the defilement of fundamental American values."

I have come to realize that every union is run by either a Ted "Mucho Amnesty" Kennedy or a Diane "I love illegals" Feinstein.

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Originally Posted by Ex_OC

Identity Fraud. This is why I have to pay $9.95 a month to make sure some illegal isn't using my SS # to work. Why do I have to pay for that??

Ex_OC, if you don't mind my asking, I've never heard of paying to keep your SS# from being stolen. How does that work?