14 arrested in Cactus raids sentenced

07:41 AM CDT on Sunday, May 27, 2007

Associated Press

AMARILLO -- Fourteen former workers at the Swift & Co. meatpacking plant in Cactus who pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a massive immigration raid received sentences ranging from six months to about a year, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Friday.

Three were sentenced Thursday to six months in prison for falsely representing a Social Security number as belonging to them in order to get jobs at Swift. Four were sentenced to eight months on the same charge.

Seven were sentenced to six months for using fraudulently obtained documents to appear like U.S. citizens to gain employment. Most got six or eight months, but one was sentenced to a year and a day.

Thirty-nine of the 53 people charged in the Northern District of Texas are awaiting sentencing.

No charges were filed against Swift, which bills itself as the world's second-largest beef and pork processor, in the Dec. 12 raid.

Raids also took place at Swift plants in five others states; in all, more than than 1,200 immigrant workers were arrested.



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