18 illegal immigrants arrested in raid to be deported

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April 21, 2008, 4:40PM

18 illegal immigrants arrested in raid to be deported

By JON GAMBRELL Associated Press Writer
© 2008 The Associated Press


LITTLE ROCK — Eighteen illegal immigrants arrested at a north Arkansas poultry plant will be processed for deportation, but will not serve any jail time for using fake Social Security numbers and state identification cards, federal judges ruled Monday.

Magistrate Judge Beth Deere and U.S. District Judge James Moody accepted guilty pleas from 17 of those arrested at the Pilgrim's Pride Corp. plant in Batesville last week. Federal prosecutors dismissed the misdemeanor charges against one man, but said they planned to ask U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to begin deportation proceedings against him.

The guilty pleas will give the 17 arrested criminal records, which will allow prosecutors to pursue harsher penalties if they illegally return to the United States. They had faced up to up to two years in prison and $205,000 in fines.

U.S. Attorney Jane Duke said her office had no interest in seeing those arrested serve jail time, as they were "otherwise law-abiding citizens."

"They came here to better their lives and their families' lives by working," Duke said after the hearings. "There's really not a desire to see that kind of person incarcerated because the family they were trying to make a better life for would suffer."

Three others face administrative charges of immigration violations after the raid Wednesday at the Pilgrim's Pride plant, part of a national sweep at company operations in Florida, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia. Duke said federal agents had not arrested anyone else in the days after the Batesville raid, though whoever supplied those arrested with the Social Security numbers and identification cards remains at large.

Those arrested all used their illegally obtained identifications to apply for jobs at Pilgrim's Pride, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Ray White said. None had previous criminal records.

At an afternoon hearing, the men filed into the courtroom, most dressed in jeans and sneakers. Two wore rubber boots. The youngest was 18, while the oldest was 59. All wore headphones that allowed them to listen to the judge through a court interpreter.

Deere urged the men to be honest and tell federal public defender Jenniffer Horan if they had children living in the country who would be left behind. After the raid, state authorities said they took in no children.

"We don't want to leave minor children in a precarious situation," Deere said.

The judge also tried to put the men at ease by describing Guatemala and Mexico as "beautiful countries" and promising to learn Spanish. Most stood impassively by, staring straight ahead or at the courtroom's floor. One man audibly wept at one point during the hearing.

"While they did break the law, they are not criminals," Horan told the judge. "They came to this country to seek a better life."

Most men passed at an opportunity to speak, though Gavino Aguillan-Bautista, 59, did. Horan said the man had been living in the country for at least 13 years.

"I want to thank God for the life and health I had in this country," the Guatemalan told the court in Spanish. "I ask God to bless all of you in the United States."

Deere offered her own thoughts after sentencing the men to the terms of the plea bargain.

"I wish you all the best and God speed," she said.

Even more info about illegals working in the poultry industry. I don't for one second believe companies in the business to be "innocent". Illegals have worked in this indutry for many years. It is outrageous to hear someone say "no one will do the work". Well, how about the costs to taxpayers as has been mentioned time and time again. Add identity theft to the mix and gee, we are dealing with some honest individuals. How would it feel to be one whose identity is ripped off so that an illegal can work in this country? I have not bought Pligrim's chicken in years. One might want to review Bo Pilgrim's lobbying accomplishments in Austin , Texas years ago and tell me what a fine upstanding citizen he is.

http://www.ice.gov/pi/news/newsreleas...

April 17, 2008
91 Pilgrim's Pride workers face criminal charges in ongoing identity theft probe.
More than 300 employees arrested at five of the company's poultry processing plants.

DALLAS - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents worked through the night processing the more than 300 foreign national workers arrested yesterday at Pilgrim's Pride plants in five states who are suspected of committing identity theft and other criminal violations in order to obtain their jobs.

Of the 311 Pilgrim's Pride employees taken into custody during the enforcement action, 91 have been charged so far with criminal violations, including false use of a Social Security number and document fraud. The workers facing criminal charges have been turned over to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. The remaining Pilgrim's Pride employees are being processed for removal on administrative immigration violations.

All of the individuals arrested during yesterday's operation were interviewed by ICE agents and health care professionals, assigned to ICE from the Department of Health and Human Services Division of Immigration Health Services, to determine if they had health, caregiver, or other humanitarian concerns, and to identify possible urgent medical needs. As a result of those interviews, 58 of the workers were processed and released on humanitarian grounds under supervision, pending future immigration proceedings.

ICE has established a toll-free number that family members can call to get information about a relative's detention status and the removal process. The toll-free hotline number is 1-866-341-3858.

Yesterday's enforcement action is the result of an ongoing ICE-led investigation in cooperation with the U.S. Attorneys' Offices in the Eastern District of Texas, the Eastern District of Arkansas, the Eastern District of Tennessee, the Middle District of Florida, and the Northern District of West Virginia. Also aiding in the investigation are the Department of Labor's Office of the Inspector General; the Social Security Administration's Office of Inspector General; the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Office of Inspector General; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; the U.S. Postal Service; the U.S. Marshals Service; the West Virginia State Police; and numerous other state and local agencies.

As part of the investigation, ICE conducted simultaneous enforcement actions yesterday at Pilgrim's Pride plants in Mount Pleasant, Texas; Live Oak, Fla.; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Batesville, Ark.; and Moorefield, W.Va. More specific information about each enforcement location is included on an updated fact sheet available at www.ice.gov.
 
The management at the affected Pilgrim's Pride facilities cooperated fully with the arrests. Pilgrim's Pride Corp., headquartered in Pittsburg, Texas, is one of the largest chicken-processing companies in the United States.

ICE's ongoing investigation determined that many Pilgrim's Pride workers committed identity theft and other criminal violations to obtain their jobs. ICE agents have interviewed numerous individuals during the course of the probe whose identities were stolen by Pilgrim's Pride employees. Those victims described a myriad of hardships they suffered as a result, including mistaken tax liens, denial of medical and social services benefits, and damage to their credit ratings.

Misuse of Social Security account numbers is a felony that carries a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000.