Sandhusker
Well-known member
Immigration agents returned Tuesday to the Swift & Co. plant in Grand Island and arrested five workers in a follow-up to a December raid that netted 261 arrests, officials said Wednesday.
At the same time, agents revisited Swift plants in other cities that also were part of the original operation.
In all, 19 people were arrested, said Tim Counts of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
He said 17 were undocumented immigrants picked up for alleged identity theft or administrative violations for being in the country illegally.
The two othres, said Counts, were a human resource employee and a union representative who worked at Swift's Marshalltown, Iowa, plant. Both were arrested away from the plant, he said, and charged criminally for offenses related to assisting illegal immigrants.
Besides Grand Island and Marshalltown, the plants involved in the December raids were in Worthington, Minn.; Greeley, Colo.; Cactus, Texas; and Hyrum, Utah. A total of 1,200 meatpacking workers were arrested in those raids.
In the December raids, no charges were filed against Swift, a Greeley-based company that bills itself as the world's second-largest beef and pork processor.
Sean McHugh, a Swift spokesman in Greeley, declined to comment on specific arrests. He said Swift did not know about Tuesday's operation in advance.
He said the company cooperated with federal agents during the operation and said the company "has never knowingly hired illegal workers." :lol:
Jill Cashen of the United Food and Commercial Workers said Wednesday that agents on Tuesday did not appear to engage in the "same level of intimidation and overkill" as in the earlier raids.
She said agents had arrest warrants for specific people and worked with human resource managers in a more humane and orderly manner.
"To the extent this is the case, the UFCW supports law enforcement efforts that abide by the law and respect the rights of workers," said a press release from the union's national office.
Work site raids are a symptom of a failed immigration system, the union officials said, and should not be a substitute for comprehensive reform.
Last month, Congress stalled in its effort to update immigration laws.
"The UFCW will continue to fight for reform that ensures that all working people,"said the union release.
At the same time, agents revisited Swift plants in other cities that also were part of the original operation.
In all, 19 people were arrested, said Tim Counts of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
He said 17 were undocumented immigrants picked up for alleged identity theft or administrative violations for being in the country illegally.
The two othres, said Counts, were a human resource employee and a union representative who worked at Swift's Marshalltown, Iowa, plant. Both were arrested away from the plant, he said, and charged criminally for offenses related to assisting illegal immigrants.
Besides Grand Island and Marshalltown, the plants involved in the December raids were in Worthington, Minn.; Greeley, Colo.; Cactus, Texas; and Hyrum, Utah. A total of 1,200 meatpacking workers were arrested in those raids.
In the December raids, no charges were filed against Swift, a Greeley-based company that bills itself as the world's second-largest beef and pork processor.
Sean McHugh, a Swift spokesman in Greeley, declined to comment on specific arrests. He said Swift did not know about Tuesday's operation in advance.
He said the company cooperated with federal agents during the operation and said the company "has never knowingly hired illegal workers." :lol:
Jill Cashen of the United Food and Commercial Workers said Wednesday that agents on Tuesday did not appear to engage in the "same level of intimidation and overkill" as in the earlier raids.
She said agents had arrest warrants for specific people and worked with human resource managers in a more humane and orderly manner.
"To the extent this is the case, the UFCW supports law enforcement efforts that abide by the law and respect the rights of workers," said a press release from the union's national office.
Work site raids are a symptom of a failed immigration system, the union officials said, and should not be a substitute for comprehensive reform.
Last month, Congress stalled in its effort to update immigration laws.
"The UFCW will continue to fight for reform that ensures that all working people,"said the union release.