Hundreds Arrested in ICE Raids

Immigration News Briefs: April 20, 2008

1. Over 300 Arrested in Poultry Plant Raids
2. 56 Arrests in Restaurant Raids
3. Houston Donut Plant Raided
4. Mississippi Restaurant Raided
5. Iowa Clothing Company Raided
6. Deport Flight to Philippines, Indonesia
7. TPS Extended for Somalis

*1. OVER 300 ARRESTED IN POULTRY PLANT RAIDS

Early on Apr. 16, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents
carried out coordinated raids on poultry processing plants owned by
the Pilgrim’s Pride company in Texas, Florida, Tennessee, Arkansas and
West Virginia. A total of 311 workers were arrested, according to
figures supplied by ICE in an Apr. 17 news release. At least 91
workers were charged with criminal violations, including false use of
a Social Security number and document fraud, and have been turned over
to the custody of the US Marshals Service. The other workers arrested
are being processed for removal on administrative immigration
violations. Of the total number of workers arrested, 58 were released
under supervision for humanitarian reasons such as childcare or
medical issues. [ICE News Release 4/17/08] Some of the workers were
arrested at the plants; others were picked up at their homes. [CBS/AP
4/17/08] All the workers arrested in the operation appear to be from
Latin America. In a fact sheet about the raids, ICE said 130 of the
arrested workers were from Mexico, 112 from Guatemala, 59 from
Honduras, four from El Salvador and one from Colombia; the nationality
of five others was listed as unknown. [ICE Fact Sheet 4/17/08]

A federal grand jury in Tyler, Texas returned indictments on Apr. 1
charging an unspecified number of people with obtaining and using the
Social Security numbers of others to get jobs at the Pilgrim’s Pride
plant in Mount Pleasant, Texas. The indictments remained under seal
until shortly before the Apr. 16 operation began. More arrests could
be made, federal officials said. [DOJ/ICE News Release 4/16/08; Dallas
Morning News 4/17/08 (posted late on 4/16/08)]

The raids and indictments resulted from an ongoing investigation into
identity theft which ICE began in January 2007 in collaboration with
the US Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General (DOL-OIG),
according to a news release issued jointly by the Department of
Justice (DOJ) and ICE. [DOJ/ICE News Release 4/16/08] The
investigation involved undercover agents. [DMN 4/18/08] On Dec. 11,
2007, ICE arrested 24 people after serving criminal arrest warrants at
the Pilgrim’s Pride plant in Mount Pleasant and at several nearby
residences. [DOJ/ICE News Release 4/16/08] All 24 were accused of
selling or using stolen or fake work documents, according to a
criminal complaint filed in US District Court for the Eastern District
of Texas in December. [DMN 4/16/08 via KVUE] Investigators said those
arrested were involved in an identity theft ring to help get jobs for
unauthorized immigrants at the company’s plants in Mount Pleasant and
Pittsburg, Texas. Since then, five have pleaded guilty to misusing
Social Security numbers and are awaiting sentencing. The criminal
complaint implicated a human resources staffer for the company,
according to federal court documents. [DMN 4/17/08 (posted late on
4/16/08); AP 4/16/08 (via DMN)]

The investigation was carried out in cooperation with the US
Attorney’s offices for the Eastern District of Texas, Eastern District
of Arkansas, Eastern District of Tennessee, Middle District of
Florida, and Northern District of West Virginia. Other federal
agencies assisting with the investigation included the Social Security
Administration’s Office of Inspector General, the US Department of
Agriculture’s Office of Inspector General, US Customs and Border
Protection, the US Postal Service and the US Marshals Service. The
West Virginia state police and numerous other state and local agencies
assisted ICE in carrying out the operation. [ICE News Release 4/17/08]

ICE’s fact sheet showing arrest totals by location as of 1pm on Apr.
17 reveals vast differences between the operations at the five
Pilgrim’s Pride plants. The two plants with the largest number of
arrests were in Moorefield, West Virginia, where ICE arrested 115
workers on administrative immigration violations, and in Chattanooga,
Tennessee, where 100 workers were arrested on administrative
immigration violations. No workers were arrested on criminal charges
in these two locations. A total of 36 workers in Chattanooga and 16 in
Moorefield were granted humanitarian release. By contrast, all 46 of
the workers arrested in Mount Pleasant are facing criminal charges;
one was granted humanitarian release. In Live Oak, Florida, two
workers were arrested on administrative immigration violations;
another 27 face criminal charges. Two workers were released on
humanitarian grounds. In Batesville, Arkansas, three workers face
administrative charges and 18 face criminal charges; three workers
were released. [ICE Fact Sheet 4/17/08]

Pilgrim’s Pride Corp.–one of the largest chicken-processing companies
in the US–has not been charged. The company has about 55,000
employees and operates dozens of facilities mostly across the South
and in Mexico and Puerto Rico, supplying the KFC restaurant chain and
other customers. The company worked with ICE agents ahead of the
raids, said Pilgrim’s Pride spokesperson Ray Atkinson from corporate
headquarters in Pittsburg, Texas. In a news release, ICE confirmed
that “management at the affected Pilgrim’s Pride facilities cooperated
fully with the arrests.” Atkinson noted that Pilgrim’s Pride
participates in the federal government’s voluntary E-Verify program to
check Social Security numbers against workers’ names in government
databases. [ICE News Release 4/17/08; DMN 4/17/08; AP 4/17/08 (via LA
Times)]

“It wasn’t a raid, in the sense that we were working with the
government to help them apprehend the people,” said Atkinson. [New
York Times 4/17/08] “We knew in advance and cooperated fully,”
Atkinson said. “We have terminated all of the employees who were taken
into custody and will terminate any employee who is found to have
engaged in similar misconduct. We are investigating these allegations
further,” Atkinson claimed in a statement. Although ICE listed 311
arrests, Pilgrim’s Pride officials said about 400 hourly,
non-management employees were arrested in the sweeps. [AP 4/17/08 (via
LAT)]

Atkinson said the company had previously approached ICE with
information about identity theft at one of its Arkansas plants. [AP
4/16/08 (via UK Guardian)] In January 2007 at the Pilgrim’s Pride
plant in De Queen, Arkansas, police arrested a manager who allegedly
rented identification documents for $800 to get a job there. [AP
4/17/08 (via LAT)]

As of Apr. 17, the number of people indicted in connection with the
Apr. 16 raid on the Pilgrim’s Pride plant in Mount Pleasant had risen
to 48. [KLTV.com (Tyler, TX) 4/17/08] Two of the workers arrested on
Apr. 16 in Mount Pleasant were freed on the afternoon of Apr. 17 and
the criminal indictments against them were dropped, said Assistant US
Attorney Arnold Spencer in Tyler. One of the two, Jesus Garcia, has
valid documents proving his lawful permanent resident status and was
apparently picked up in “a case of mistaken identity,” according to
his lawyer, Fernando Dubove. “It is the wrong Jesus Garcia. It is
really tough when you have a common name.” A different man named John
Jesus Garcia is apparently still named in the Apr. 1 indictment and is
considered a fugitive. Spencer wouldn’t comment on the immigration
status of the other worker who was released, saying only that her case
was complicated. Spencer acknowledged that “a significant number” of
the workers named in the Apr. 1 indictment remain at large. [DMN
4/18/08, 4/19/08]

The raids spread fear throughout Mount Pleasant. Following the
arrests, dozens of businesses in town that cater to Latino immigrants
had few customers or none at all. [CBS/AP 4/17/08] Missy Walley,
principal of Chapel Hill Elementary school in Mount Pleasant, said
that students upset about the raids crowded her office on the morning
of Apr. 17. One student’s mother and another student’s father had been
arrested, and many students seemed afraid that ICE agents might come
to the school. Many other students expressed empathy for those who
were directly affected, according to Walley. “It was not just our
Hispanic children who were upset,” she said. “It was all the children.
It affected the whole school.” [DMN 4/18/08] Texas Child Protective
Services spokesperson Shari Pulliam said her agency was notified about
the raid but has not had to take custody of any children. [AP 4/16/08
(via Google)]

The 36 workers released in Chattanooga have been equipped with
ankle-bracelet monitors as an alternative to detention, said ICE
spokesperson Gail Montenegro. “I feel humiliated by having to wear
the bracelet,” said a Honduran worker named Miriam, who was separated
from her 7-month-old daughter for more than 12 hours after her arrest
at the Pilgrim’s Pride plant in Chattanooga. “Even if they hadn’t put
this on my foot, I would have shown up to court and left if the judge
says I have to leave, because I don’t want to lose my baby.” A
Guatemalan worker named Candelaria who was released said she is
illiterate and her first language is a Mayan dialect, not Spanish–yet
she was given documents to sign which were mostly in English, with
some translations into Spanish. Candelaria is a widowed single mother
to three US-born children, all under age 12. “I don’t know how to read
or write. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do now,” she said.

Several organizations from Tennessee and Georgia are reaching out to
the families of those arrested in Chattanooga to assess their needs
and raise money to help with food, supplies and expenses, said Rev.
Mike Feely, director of the St. Andrew’s Center and a board member of
La Paz de Dios, a Hispanic outreach organization. The groups also plan
to hold community forums to explain the legal process and discuss the
rights of the detainees and their families, he said. David Linge,
co-chair of Jobs With Justice of East Tennessee, came to Chattanooga
on the night of Apr. 16 with his wife to offer their help. Feely said
the Salvation Army, the Red Cross and various churches have also
contacted him to see how they can help. “We’ve had people from all
over the place calling us. It’s encouraging,” said Feely. [Chattanooga
Times Free Press 4/18/08]

*2. 56 ARRESTS IN RESTAURANT RAIDS

On Apr. 16, ICE special agents arrested 11 people in four states on
criminal charges of conspiracy to harbor unauthorized immigrants who
were allegedly smuggled into the US to work in seven Mexican
restaurants owned by Simon Banda. Banda, of Depew, New York, was among
those arrested; nine others named in an ICE news release were
identified as managers of the restaurants. (The 11th person was not
identified.) The US Attorney for the Western District of New York,
Terrance Flynn, and ICE chief Julie Myers announced the arrests on the
morning of Apr. 16. Six of the arrests took place in the Western
District of New York; one in Bradford, Pennsylvania; two in West
Virginia; and two in the Cleveland, Ohio area. Flynn said his office
has been coordinating closely with the US Attorney’s offices in
Atlanta, Wheeling (West Virginia), Cleveland and Erie (Pennsylvania).

The operation involved about 130 ICE agents and 30 state and local law
enforcement officers. In all, law enforcement agents executed 26
search and arrest warrants as part of an investigation that began in
May 2006. [AP 4/16/08 (via Newsday); ICE News Release 4/16/08]

As part of the operation, ICE agents and local officers also arrested
45 workers on administrative immigration violations while executing
search warrants at the seven restaurants, at six residences occupied
by the owners and managers of the restaurants, and at 12 apartments
used to house the workers. [ICE News Release 4/16/08] Eight of the
workers and two of the managers were arrested in the towns of Mentor
and Willoughby in northeast Ohio, at Jalapeño Loco Mexican Restaurant
in Mentor and two houses, said ICE spokesperson Greg Palmore. [Canton
Repository 4/16/08 from AP]

The other raided restaurants are: El Caporal Mexican Restaurant in
Cheektowaga, NY; Azteca Mexican Food Cantina in Dunkirk, NY; Don
Lorenzo Mexican Restaurant in Allegany, NY; La Herradura Mexican
Restaurant in Bradford, Pennsylvania; Nogales Mexican Restaurant in
Wheeling, West Virginia; and El Caporal Restaurant in New
Martinsville, West Virginia. In addition, ICE agents searched a home
connected to Banda in Marietta, Georgia, in an effort to uncover cash
allegedly skimmed from the restaurants.

ICE was assisted in the Western New York operation by the Cheektowaga
Police Department, the New York State Police, the US Department of
Labor and Customs and Border Protection’s Office of the Border Patrol.
Other federal, state and local partners assisted ICE with the
operations in other states. [ICE News Release 4/16/08]

Lev Kubiak, acting special agent in charge of ICE in Buffalo, said
Banda entered the US without permission an unknown number of years ago
and created a false identity using the birth certificate of a Honduran
man. Under the name Jorge Delarco, Banda was granted temporary
protected status and permission to work in this country, according to
court documents. To find workers for his restaurants, Banda “would
contact friends and family in Mexico looking for individuals who would
pay $2,700 or $2,000 to be smuggled into this country,” said Flynn,
the US Attorney. [AP 4/16/08 (via Newsday)] Banda would allegedly pay
the workers’ smuggling debts and then force them to repay him with
72-hour work weeks at the Mexican restaurants, at low pay and with
deductions for rent in the substandard apartments he provided for
them. [AP 4/16/08 (via Newsday); Canton Repository 4/16/08 from AP]

According to an ICE investigator’s affidavit, based in part on
interviews with unidentified cooperating witnesses, Banda skimmed 50%
from each restaurant’s profits and stashed the proceeds in bank safe
deposit boxes and at his sister’s house. An ICE financial auditor
estimated Banda skimmed about $140,000 from each of his restaurants
each year.

Banda appeared in court without a lawyer on Apr. 16 and was given
until Apr. 18 to hire one. Magistrate Judge Hugh Scott ordered him
detained until then, based on the government’s assertion that Banda is
a Mexican citizen without legal status in the US. Six of Banda’s
restaurant managers, including two of his brothers, also made initial
appearances in court. Javier Banda of Depew was released on $5,000
bail, while Honorio Banda of Bradford, Pennsylvania, was held because
he is allegedly in the country without permission. Another manager was
released on bail, one was held because of outstanding warrants and the
others were detained because they are allegedly in the US without
permission. [AP 4/16/08 (via Newsday)]

*3. HOUSTON DONUT PLANT RAIDED

At 5am on Apr. 16, ICE agents swarmed the Houston, Texas headquarters
of the Shipley’s Do-Nuts complex and arrested at least 20 workers on
administrative immigration charges. (Some reports suggested that the
number of workers arrested was closer to 30.) The ICE agents,
accompanied by Harris County sheriff’s deputies, arrived at the site
in a caravan of 50 vehicles, detention vans and an ambulance. An ICE
helicopter hovered over the site while the sheriff’s deputies guarded
the perimeter. Some ICE agents brought workers out in handcuffs while
others questioned employees inside, sorted through company documents
and removed documents and other items from the company offices.

The raid focused on a four-block Shipley’s complex that includes a
warehouse, offices and processing plants where workers prepare dough
mix and fillings used at the company’s Houston-area stores. The
compound, fenced off with barbed wire, also includes residences–at
least five trailers and 14 small homes–where some of the workers
apparently live. The Harris County Appraisal District lists many of
the properties as belonging to members of the Shipley family. Agents
did not enter the homes during the raid, but Robert Rutt, the agent in
charge of the Houston ICE office, told the Houston Chronicle that some
of the people who were arrested lived at the complex. Rutt said the
operation was planned after ICE received information that unauthorized
immigrants were working at the Shipley facility. He added that no one
in management has been taken into custody. Of the 20 workers who were
confirmed arrested, 11 are from Mexico, including a juvenile; four are
from Honduras, four from Nicaragua and one from El Salvador. [Houston
Chronicle 4/16/08 (11:29pm & 5:38pm articles); Dallas Morning News
4/16/08 via KVUE; Texas Cable News 4/16/08 from AP & Channel 11 News]

The family-owned donut chain has 86 stores in the Houston area and a
total of 190 stores throughout Texas and in Arkansas, Mississippi and
Alabama. [HC 4/16/08 (11:29pm); TXCN 4/16/08 from AP & Channel 11
News] The company released a statement on Apr. 16 following the raid.
“Shipley Do-Nuts is a family-owned and operated business with a
72-year history in the Houston area. It makes every effort to comply
with very complicated immigration laws, and is currently cooperating
with authorities in an ongoing investigation. Shipley is deeply
concerned for the well-being of its employees that are being detained
and their families.”

In 2006, 15 workers filed a discrimination lawsuit against Shipley’s,
seeking damages for allegedly enduring daily slurs such as “wetback”
and “mojado” while working at the company’s warehouse. Most of the
allegations were filed against a former plant manager, Jimmy Rivera,
and two supervisors. One worker, Joel Sixtos Salvador of Michoacan,
Mexico, testified in his deposition that Rivera humiliated him,
insulted him and threatened him with deportation if he complained. “He
told me he had some police friends and that he could tell them to
arrest me and deport me,” Sixtos testified. Filberto Alvarado Robles,
who worked for the company starting in 1997, said in an Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaint that “the company
knew what was going on, or should know” because workers had complained
about Rivera to another supervisor. The company settled the lawsuit
with the workers this past February. The settlement terms are
confidential. In his deposition for the civil lawsuit, Rivera, a
Shipley employee for 30 years, denied ever knowingly hiring an
undocumented worker. He denied telling workers to go to a flea market
to get fake documents, including Social Security cards.

The depositions in the civil lawsuit include allegations that workers
who complained about their treatment on the job were evicted from
company housing. The company denied those allegations. Company
president Lawrence Shipley III told investigators that the housing was
free to workers and their families. But the workers testified that
Rivera, the plant manager, charged them fees–in some cases as much as
$550–to move into the homes. The workers also alleged that Rivera
would charge them to enter a raffle to work overtime on weekends, and
charge them $50 to see the company doctor. One worker said he had to
pay $100 to Rivera to avoid being fired after refusing to give him a
massage. [HC 4/16/08 (11:29pm)]

Maria Jimenez, a longtime Houston immigrant rights activist, led a
protest against the raid at noon on Apr. 16 outside the Mickey Leland
Federal Building with members of organizations including CRECEN, FIEL,
America Para Todos, Houston Interfaith Worker Justice, the Catholic
Archdiocesan office of Justice and Peace and the Mennonite Central
Committee. Jimenez said the Shipley’s raid follows recent ICE arrests
at local apartment complexes and the detention of undocumented day
laborers. Activists at the protest spoke out against the current
unjust immigration laws, called for a fair immigration reform that
values family unity and provides a path towards citizenship, and
encouraged the community to come out for a march planned for May 1 in
downtown Houston. [HC 4/16/08 (11:29pm); TXCN 4/16/08 from AP &
Channel 11 News; Message posted by “We’re All Immigrants” on Houston
Indymedia 4/16/08]

*4. MISSISSIPPI RESTAURANT RAIDED

On Mar. 28, ICE agents arrested nine workers at Stix Japanese
restaurant in Flowood, Mississippi. Seven of the workers, including
two women, are from Indonesia; one man is from Thailand and another is
a student from China. ICE spokesperson Temple Black said the student
is in the US legally on a student visa but the visa prohibits him from
working. The student and the two women were released; the other
workers were bused to the Tensas Parish Detention Center in
Waterproof, Louisiana, to await hearings before an immigration judge.
Those hearings were scheduled for Apr. 4. Black said the investigation
is continuing and charges could still be filed.

Earlier this year, the Country Club of Jackson, Mississippi had to pay
a $214,500 fine for hiring unauthorized workers and for various Social
Security violations, US Attorney Dunn Lampton said. ICE raided the
country club on Sept. 13, 2006 [see INB 9/23/06]. The US Attorney’s
office filed a criminal complaint against the country club, accusing
it of knowingly employing unauthorized immigrants. The country club
has agreed to be audited by ICE and establish a training program to
detect fraudulent documents; as long as it complies with these
provisions, the criminal charges will be dropped. [Clarion-Ledger
(Jackson) 4/6/08; WJTV.com (Jackson) 4/3/08]

*5. IOWA CLOTHING COMPANY RAIDED

On Mar. 26, ICE agents raided the American Clothing Company, a
clothing recycling business in Council Bluffs, Iowa, arresting 16
workers on administrative immigration violations. Two of the workers
are from El Salvador; the others are Mexican. Eleven of the workers
are women; five are men. ICE spokesperson Tim Counts said agents had
been investigating the business for several months. He said it appears
American Clothing officials were “duped” by fraudulent documents; the
business is not facing any charges. [Action 3 News (Omaha, Nebraska)
3/26/08; Radio Iowa News 3/27/08]

*6. DEPORT FLIGHT TO PHILIPPINES, INDONESIA

On Apr. 8, 123 immigrants from the Philippines and Indonesia were
deported on a plane contracted under special charter with the ICE
Detention and Removal Operations (DRO) Flight Operations Unit. The
plane took off from Yuma, Arizona on Apr. 8; the deportees arrived in
Pampanga, Philippines and Jakarta, Indonesia on Apr. 10. The deportees
included 98 males and 25 females, according to ICE. Of the total 123
deportees, 43 had criminal convictions. The flight was escorted by ICE
DRO officers, Division of Immigration Health Services staff and
consular officials from Indonesia and the Philippines. It was the
first deportation charter flight to the Philippines for fiscal year
2008 and the first deportation charter flight ever for Indonesia. The
ICE attache in Singapore and the Department of State Regional Security
Office in Jakarta coordinated with the Indonesian government to
repatriate the deportees. ICE operates 13 to15 special air charter
missions every year; other destinations for these flights include
Brazil, Eastern Europe, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Cambodia
and the Middle East. [ICE News Release 4/10/08]

*7. TPS EXTENDED FOR SOMALIS

On Mar. 10, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced
an 18-month extension, effective Mar. 17, of Temporary Protected
Status (TPS) for nationals of Somalia. Under this extension, those who
have already been granted TPS are eligible to live and work in the US
and maintain their status through Sept. 17, 2009. An estimated 300
nationals of Somalia (or people “having no nationality who last
habitually resided in Somalia”) are eligible for re-registration. The
60-day re-registration period began Mar. 12 and ends May 12, 2008.
[USCIS News Release 3/10/08]

—————————————————–
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