GREELEY, Colo. — Federal agents raided meat-processing plants in six states on Tuesday, arresting possibly illegal immigrants accused of buying or stealing Social Security numbers and other identification required to get U.S. jobs.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents said it might be today before they know how many workers were arrested at the plants, all operated by Greeley-based Swift & Co., which describes itself as the world's second-largest meat processor.
ICE chief Julie L. Myers told reporters in Washington that the identities of hundreds of U.S. citizens and legal residents may have been stolen in a scheme designed to help illegal immigrants get jobs at Swift. She said the scheme involved illegal immigrants and others.
No charges had been filed against Swift. In a written statement, President and CEO Sam Rovit said the firm has never knowingly hired illegal workers and does not condone the practice.
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Swift uses a government pilot program to confirm whether Social Security numbers are valid. Questions have been raised about the program's ability to detect when two people are using the same number.
ICE raided Swift facilities in Greeley; Grand Island, Neb.; Cactus, Texas; Hyrum, Utah; Marshalltown, Iowa; and Worthington, Minn., representing all of Swift's domestic beef-processing capacity and 77 percent of its pork-processing capacity.
It was not immediately clear how long the plants were shut down and how much production was lost. Company officials did not immediately return a call Tuesday afternoon.
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union said it would ask federal judges in all six states for injunctions to halt the raids. Union spokeswoman Jill Cashen said attorneys were gathering details before filing the requests.
Friends, protesters wait outside
While ICE agents questioned workers inside the Greeley plant, hundreds of friends, relatives and protesters gathered outside. Some tried to deliver documents to family members inside. Others prayed; still others jeered at law-enforcement officers.
"We need help. We need answers," Tony Garcia yelled through a wire fence to ICE agents. "What about the kids at school? Who is going to pick them up?"
Garcia, a Greeley cemetery worker, said he has friends who work at Swift.
In Logan, Utah, the Rev. Clarence Sandoval of St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic Church said some parishioners had not heard what had happened to spouses who work at the nearby Hyrum plant.
"They are taking mothers and fathers, and we're really concerned about the children," Sandoval said. "I'm getting calls from mothers saying they don't know where their husband was taken."
U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., an outspoken advocate of stricter immigration laws, praised the raids. He said Swift officials should be prosecuted if they were involved in hiring any illegal immigrants.
"My hope at this point is that the U.S. government has the courage to prosecute the Swift & Co. executives who may have been complicit in their hiring," Tancredo said in a statement.
Southern poultry plants raided
ICE also has staged immigration raids at poultry plants in the South. In July 2005, nearly 120 people were arrested at an Arkadelphia, Ark., facility. Three months ago, agents raided a poultry plant in Stillmore, Ga., arresting a similar number who worked there or lived in surrounding counties.
Ricardo Martinez, co-director of Padres Unidos, a Denver-based immigrant-rights group, accused ICE of wasting resources on "Gestapo tactics" that grab headlines but do little to address the issue of immigration.
Martinez said he sympathizes with identity-theft victims because someone once used his Social Security number.
"But I also have to say, this country is setting up these laws and policies that's making criminals out of honest working people," he said. "They're not criminals — just hardworking people who are trying to feed their families."
ICE said the raids capped a 10-month investigation. The agency said suspects were arrested for investigation of aggravated identity theft, administrative immigration violations and other infractions.
Find more on immigration and border issues at azstarnet.com/border
