Investigators believe five poultry companies violated immigration law, search warrants say

Unsealed documents detail trove of evidence, including videotaped statements by managers.

By Hannah Denham August 15 at 10:59 AM

Federal immigration officials say they have probable cause that all five companies operating poultry plants raided by authorities in Mississippi last week violated immigration law by knowingly hiring undocumented immigrants, according to search warrant affidavits that cite videotaped statements of managers.

There were clear signs that the companies were hiring people who could not legally work in the country, the search warrants allege. Some workers wore ankle monitors as they awaited deportation hearings; gave Social Security numbers belonging to the deceased, or were hired twice by the same manager even though the worker used different names on each occasion.

Since 2002, federal officials have reported more than 350 encounters or arrests of undocumented people who said they worked at two of the plants, Koch Foods and Peco Foods.

The companies for years have employed a stream of Guatemalan and Mexican immigrants who are not authorized to work in the United States, according to the search warrant affidavits, unsealed in federal court after Aug. 7 raids on seven plants operated by Koch Foods, Peco Foods, PH Food, A&B and Pearl River Foods. In the affidavits, Homeland Security Investigations agent Anthony Todd Williams Jr. said there is probable cause to believe that the chicken plants in Mississippi intentionally hired undocumented workers who presented fraudulent documents “for the purpose of commercial advantage or private financial gain.”

Williams wrote that individuals or companies shown to have “actual knowledge” of violating the employment law — meaning they knowingly hired at least 10 people not authorized to work for a year-long period — can be fined as much as $3,000 per undocumented worker and imprisoned for as much as six months.

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