MOUNT PLEASANT, Texas — Federal immigration agents raided Pilgrim’s Pride poultry plants in five states Wednesday in a crackdown on an alleged scam to provide fake identification for illegal-immigrant workers, authorities said.
More than 100 people were expected to be charged in the raids at the nation’s largest chicken producer, Julie Myers, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement assistant secretary, told The Associated Press.
About 260 employees of the Swift meatpacking plant in Greeley were arrested or detained after ICE agents raided that plant in December 2006. An additional 1,000 workers were arrested at five other Swift facilities outside Colorado.
The Wednesday raids were part of a long-term investigation, officials said. Plants were raided in Mount Pleasant, Texas; Batesville, Ark.; Live Oak, Fla.; Chattanooga, Tenn.; and Moorefield, W.Va., authorities said.
Ray Atkinson, a spokesman for Pilgrim’s Pride, said the company went to ICE agents with information about identity theft at the Arkansas plant.
