Thread: Read the Complaints (pdf files)

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_4836252

hit the above link and see the five PDF files on the left side in
regard to the raids at Swift on Tuesday

* Read a PDF of the Complaint

* Read a PDF of the Response in Opposition

* Read a PDF of the Brief in Support of Motion

* Read a PDF of the Appendix in Support

* Read a PDF of the Injunction Denial Order

Part of the article is...............

For nearly two weeks, Swift & Co. officials fought to block an impending immigration raid they knew was coming.

According to newly unsealed federal-court records filed in Amarillo, Texas, on Dec. 4, the company sought an injunction to stop U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from raiding six of its plants across the nation.

On Dec. 7, the company's request was denied. And on Tuesday, the raid went forward.

While waging the sealed court fight, Swift scrutinized its workers' employment documents. Nearly 400 workers nationally "simply disappeared" because of that review, said Don Wiseman, the company's general counsel.

"We never fired anyone," he said. "We didn't have to."

Well I can honestly say. That I will never buy another Swifts Product.

The latter half of the above article.

Swift officials said Wednesday they never questioned why ICE would want to rid the Greeley-based meatpacking company - and the nation - of illegal workers, but they worried about how investigators planned to round up employees and the impact that roundup would have on Swift and its operations.

"We asked ICE repeatedly how we could work with them to make this happen as unobtrusively as possible," Wiseman said. "But they made it clear they were just going to show up and conduct a one-day raid. That was just unacceptable to us. We have a business to run, and we knew there was a better way to do this."

At a news conference Wednesday, ICE officials criticized the company for essentially tipping off hundreds, and potentially thousands, of illegal workers to a 10-month identity-theft investigation that resulted in 1,282 arrests nationwide.

Swift's internal investigation "was well after the time that the company knew that there was a significant problem in their workforce," said Julie Myers, assistant secretary of Homeland Security for ICE. "And we regretted that they went ahead and took that action, and they did not talk to us ..."

A letter from ICE to Swift officials obtained by The Denver Post and dated Oct. 25 shows that the company was free to remove illegal workers.

"Specifically, at no time has anyone from ICE told any Swift official that they cannot take action against employees who Swift determines, on its own, are unauthorized to work in the United States," the letter states.

Before and during its legal battle in Texas, Swift took aggressive steps to screen its workforce. After learning in the spring of the probe conducted by ICE and the U.S. Department of Justice, the company hired a well-respected immigration and border-security consultant to help it identify illegal employees and avoid hiring new ones.

But Wiseman said it wasn't until after the company received that October letter from ICE that Swift developed a plan to question its workers. The internal review prompted the departure of the 400 employees, 106 of whom worked at Swift's Greeley plant, said officials of the United Food and Commerical Workers Union Local 7.

Court documents indicate Swift struggled to minimize the impact of raids that temporarily shut down six of its seven plants.

According to Swift: "These actions by ICE, or a comparable mass removal action, would have a direct impact on many legal workers, as well as suspected illegal workers, and would irreparably harm Swift by interfering with its legal business operations and by damaging its reputation."

The Department of Justice countered: "Put simply, there is no constitutional or statutory right for anyone to continue violating the law, and the government need not work on a potential law violators' timetable, especially where, as here, doing so would undermine legitimate law-enforcement operations."

Staff writer Christine Tatum can be reached at 303-954-1503 or ctatum@denverpost.com.

Isn't that "tampering with evidence." I think they should be charged!

While waging the sealed court fight, Swift scrutinized its workers' employment documents. Nearly 400 workers nationally "simply disappeared" because of that review, said Don Wiseman, the company's general counsel.

i didnt post the entire article because i thought that people might want to see and read the PDF copy of the complaint that Swift filed in the first place.