Inquiry into chicken producer dropped
By Anabelle Garay |
January 1, 2010, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
FEDERAL investigators will not prosecute Pilgrim's Pride Corp for employing illegal immigrants and have dropped an investigation into the largest United States chicken producer and its workers, the US Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Texas said on Wednesday.
The Pittsburg, Texas-based company in turn agreed to pay US$4.5 million to a law enforcement fund at the Department of the Treasury and improve how it screens prospective employees to ensure they are allowed to work in the US, the office said in a statement.
An investigation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement led to the arrest in December 2007 of 25 people involved in a scheme to secure jobs for illegal immigrants at Pilgrim's Pride plants in East Texas. Some of those arrested were human resources employees at the company.
They were prosecuted for immigration violations or crimes stemming from document and identity fraud, said Arnold Spencer, the federal prosecutor who oversaw the case.
The arrests were followed in April 2008 with raids of Pilgrim's Pride plants in Texas, Florida, West Virginia, Arkansas and Tennessee. The company cooperated and ICE agents arrested 338 illegal workers. Of those, 38 were convicted of misuse of a Social Security number and others faced deportation or other immigration proceedings.
The firm has about 55,000 employees and runs facilities across the south and in Mexico and Puerto Rico.
The Pittsburg, Texas-based company in turn agreed to pay US$4.5 million to a law enforcement fund at the Department of the Treasury and improve how it screens prospective employees to ensure they are allowed to work in the US, the office said in a statement.
An investigation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement led to the arrest in December 2007 of 25 people involved in a scheme to secure jobs for illegal immigrants at Pilgrim's Pride plants in East Texas. Some of those arrested were human resources employees at the company.
They were prosecuted for immigration violations or crimes stemming from document and identity fraud, said Arnold Spencer, the federal prosecutor who oversaw the case.
The arrests were followed in April 2008 with raids of Pilgrim's Pride plants in Texas, Florida, West Virginia, Arkansas and Tennessee. The company cooperated and ICE agents arrested 338 illegal workers. Of those, 38 were convicted of misuse of a Social Security number and others faced deportation or other immigration proceedings.
The firm has about 55,000 employees and runs facilities across the south and in Mexico and Puerto Rico.
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