More than 40 charged in federal court from Mississippi ICE raid, but no company offic
More than 40 charged in federal court from Mississippi ICE raid, but no company officials
Aug. 16, 2019
Jimmie Gates
Charges have been filed in federal court accusing more than 40 people detained in the recent Mississippi chicken processing plant raids of being in the United States illegally.
But more than a week after the raids, there are no records of company officials charged with knowingly hiring undocumented workers. This is despite information in federal search warrant affidavits suggesting company officials knew their workers were undocumented.
Some managers knew workers wore ankle monitors to work as they waited on immigration hearings, the warrants say. One of the chicken companies was aware its workers used fraudulent Social Security numbers, a confidential informant told investigators. A human resources employee revealed an employee was hired on two occasions, under two different identities.
When a Guatemalan man encountered law enforcement in Texas, he admitted he had worked at one of the plants, Koch Foods, and reportedly said the plant knew about his immigration status, and that there were “a lot of illegals working there."
Authorities said since 2002 they have recorded about 350 encounters or arrests of undocumented immigrants around the country who acknowledged working at either Koch Foods or Peco Foods plants in Mississippi.
The initial wave of about 40 charges filed against workers this week includes an arrest warrant and a sworn affidavit by Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Brent Druery. It accuses each person of either illegally reentering or failing to depart the U.S.
For example, an arrest warrant for Cesar Berduo-Perez said he had three prior encounters with immigration officials — including one in November 2011, near Morton, and another in 2013, in Scott County. When agents raided Pearl River Foods in Carthage last week, they once again found Perez, who is from Mexico.
https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2...unds&auto=webp
Hanging on the chainlink fence surrounding Koch Foods in Morton, Mississippi, is a banner advertising "Now hiring." Koch was one of seven locations hit by U.S. Immigration and Customs officials across Mississippi Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2019, detaining 680 people. (Photo: Barbara Gauntt,/Clarion Ledger)
Perez was deported to Mexico each time, the court documents say. ICE databases revealed Perez never received permission to apply for readmission. Federal law states someone illegally reentering the country can be fined or imprisoned up to two years, or both. They also can be deported.
The new criminal complaints filed against workers stem from the Aug. 7 raids of seven Mississippi food processing plants, when immigration officials arrested 680 people suspected of living and working in the country without permission. Officials called it the largest immigration operation of its kind in more than a decade, and the largest single-state raid ever.
The approximately 380 people still in custody were shipped to detention facilities in southwest Mississippi and Louisiana, authorities said.
Will employers face consequences?
Mike Hurst, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi, has said the investigation is ongoing. He hasn't said specifically whether criminal charges will be brought against companies and officials — but pointed to a track record that includes several similar prosecutions.
https://www.clarionledger.com/story/...id/2028823001/
