AP: Federal immigration agents raid Smithfield Foods plant in N.C.

north carolina | migration | news report Thursday August 23, 2007 22:00 by Anonymous

by Associated Press
published August 23, 2007 7:20 am

TAR HEEL – Federal immigration agents conducted raids Wednesday at a Smithfield Foods Inc. slaughterhouse and in neighborhoods in four surrounding counties, arresting 28 people suspected of identity theft, authorities said.

Smithfield spokesman Dennis Pittman said company officials learned about the raid not long before federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrived at about 4 a.m. to remove some workers from the world's largest hog processing plant.

"We were told that they would be coming in. We didn't know for sure how many folks they would be getting," Pittman said. "We couldn't even tell our staff."

ICE arrested 28 people suspected of ties to identity theft in Bladen, Cumberland, Hoke and Robeson counties, said ICE spokesman Richard Rocha in Washington, D.C. Of those, 25 were Mexican, two Guatemalan and one Honduran, he said. Thirteen were women and 15 were men.

Eight were arrested at the plant, while the rest were arrested at homes, Rocha said.

In Robeson County, Bernadino Diaz said his wife, Antonieta Bello, was arrested after agents knocked on their door about 3:40 a.m.

"I thought they were going to arrest all of us," said Diaz, who sat in his house with their five children. "I was able to stay with the kids. That made a bad situation a little better."

Those arrested Wednesday were moved to regional detention facilities, Rocha said.

Also arrested was Ascenio Regino, a construction worker, his family said. His wife, Norma Beltran, said through a translator that agents knocked on their door at 3:30 a.m.

"The only thing we want to do is work," she said. "Criminals are right under their noses and they never do anything. Why? Why us? "

In January, immigration agents arrested 21 plant employees. Smithfield also sent letters to between 500 and 600 employees whose Social Security numbers, names or other personal information couldn't be verified. The company also fired about 50 workers, saying they provided false information.

That led to a walkout in which about 1,000 workers, most of them Hispanic, left in protest. They were supported by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which has tried to organize the plant for more than a decade.

Smithfield agreed to rehire the fired workers and letter recipients, who received a grace period to resolve discrepancies in their identity information. When that time expired, Smithfield officials said about 300 workers quietly left their jobs or quit showing up for work.

"Work site law enforcement and other ICE actions around identity and immigration issues are a symptom of a failed immigration system, and no substitute for comprehensive reform," the union said in a statement. "They represent a form of political theater that ends in real human tragedy _ the devastation of communities, breakup of families and the defilement of fundamental American values."

But Rocha said identity theft causes serious problems for victims, who could find it "more difficult to get a loan, buy a home or gain employment."

About 5,000 employees slaughter up to 32,000 hogs a day at the plant, located about 80 miles south of Raleigh.