Thread: Tx-19 former poultry workers plead guilty

July 10, 2008, 6:15PM
19 former poultry workers plead guilty






TYLER, Texas — Nineteen former East Texas poultry plant workers arrested in a raid targeting unauthorized immigrant workers at Pilgrim's Pride plants nationwide pleaded guilty Thursday, officials said.

They entered guilty pleas in federal court to charges of misuse of a Social Security number and were sentenced to time served, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. All have been turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation.

The workers were employed by Pittsburg, Texas-based Pilgrim's Pride Corp. at its Mount Pleasant plant. Each was accused of presenting a Social Security card that was not theirs to Pilgrim's Pride to obtain work at the poultry plant.

Another former worker arrested earlier in investigation of Pilgrim's Pride employees also pleaded guilty to criminal charges. German Yepez-Guzman was sentenced to time served on a charge of conspiracy to commit fraud in connection with identification documents, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Evidence in Yepez-Guzman's case indicated he was part of a group that sold false identification documents to immigrants in the country illegally, who would use them to gain employment. The group sold documents such as Social Security cards and birth certificates.

In addition, Cecilia Perez-Lazaro pleaded guilty to a count of entry into the United States without inspection and received a sentence of time served. She also was released to the custody of ICE, federal officials said.

Federal immigration agents raided Pilgrim's Pride poultry plants in five states in April as part of a crackdown on an alleged scam to provide fake identification for illegal immigrant workers. They arrested more than 300 people in Mount Pleasant; Live Oak, Fla.; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Batesville, Ark. and Moorefield, W.Va.

More than half of those facing criminal charges were from the Mount Pleasant plant.

The operation stemmed from a long-term investigation that began early last year and yielded 24 arrests in December. In that case, undercover agents say they infiltrated an East Texas document vending ring in which job seekers would pay hundreds of dollars for identification that would get them jobs at Pilgrim's Pride.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5881858.html

Great, ICE, deport them so they will be back tomorrow working somewhere else illegally.