Mississippi Plants Knowingly Hired Undocumented Workers, ICE Says
Affidavits unsealed in federal court after last week’s raids show that federal agents believe the companies “willfully and unlawfully” hired undocumented immigrants.
Federal immigration officials believe that the companies targeted in raids at poultry plants across Mississippi last week knowingly hired undocumented immigrants, a violation of federal law, according to affidavits filed by federal agents supporting the raids.
About 680 immigrants believed to be working without legal documentation were taken away on buses by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents during the coordinated sting on Aug. 7. The operation, which might be the largest work site enforcement action ever in a single state, focused on plants run by five companies: Peco Foods, Pearl River Foods, Koch Foods, A & B Inc. and P H Food Inc.
More than 600 ICE agents were involved.
The affidavits, made public the day after the raids, show that the agents believe that the companies were “willfully and unlawfully” employing undocumented immigrants.
In some cases, the affidavits say, the companies employed people who would show up to work wearing ankle monitors that are part of a federal program to make sure undocumented immigrants appear at court proceedings.
In other cases, the affidavits implicate managers. For example, at the Peco Foods plant, an employee told a confidential informant that one worker presented a different name on the two occasions she was hired.
It was not immediately clear whether the companies or managers would face charges or penalties. One possible violation could carry a $3,000 fine and six months in prison for each undocumented immigrant hired, the affidavits say.
“There have been no indictments to date,” a spokesman for the Justice Department said on Thursday. “This is an ongoing investigation.”
The companies did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday.
Julie Myers Wood, a former assistant secretary of homeland security who ran ICE, said in an interview that the use of informants signified that ICE was trying to be more aggressive about targeting employers. She said that given the variety of companies involved, she expected a range of outcomes in the cases, possibly including indictments and nonprosecution agreements.
“They are being aggressive and trying to target rogue H.R. managers or others within the management chain,” said Ms. Wood, who is now the chief executive of Guidepost Solutions, a compliance firm.
She said it was difficult to prosecute companies for hiring undocumented workers, as significant evidence would be needed to prove complicity.
Prosecutions are not common, said Kimberley Best Robidoux, a business immigration lawyer in San Diego who specializes in compliance. According to data compiled by Syracuse University and released in May, only 11 people were prosecuted from April 2018 through March 2019 for employing immigrants who did not have proper documentation. No companies were prosecuted during that time, according to the data.
The raids on Aug. 7 were the largest to occur since President Trump, who has made illegal immigration a focal point of his presidency, took office.
According to the affidavits, the Peco Foods plants targeted in the raids are in Bay Springs, Canton and Walnut Grove; The Koch Foods plant is in Morton, as is the P H Food Inc. plant; The Pearl River Foods plant is in Carthage; and the A&B Inc. plant is in Pelahatchie.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi, which conducted the searches with ICE, said that some of the people who were rounded up were taken to an ICE detention center in Jena, La. Others have been released on “humanitarian” grounds, but they are required to appear before a federal immigration judge who will determine whether or not they will be deported.
The affidavits outline previous arrests of undocumented workers at the plants. For example, from September 2002 to April 2019, there were 144 arrests or encounters with undocumented immigrants who said they were employed at Koch Foods plants in Morton or Forest.
The P H Food Inc. and A & B Inc. plants are owned by the same person, according to the affidavits. A confidential informant said that a woman who prepares the payroll for both of the plants and another employee who works with payroll companies knew about the undocumented immigrants working there, the affidavits say.
One employee at the A & B Inc. plant who was in the country illegally said that the plant manager had never required him to provide any identification documents to work there and only asked for his name, an affidavit says.
The affidavits say some of the companies had access to E-Verify, but did not use it for dozens of undocumented employees. E-Verify is an electronic system that checks documents provided by newly hired workers against Social Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security records to identify fakes.
Ms. Wood said that while the raids all happened on the same day, the case involving each company might be “radically different.”
“They really shouldn’t all be lumped together,” she said.
Elisha Brown contributed reporting.
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