U.S. Attorney: Immigration crackdown not over
DES MOINES, IA - Raids at meatpacking plants in six states last week started with an investigation in early March that uncovered a potential of 4,300 illegal workers, only a fraction of which have been caught, U.S. Attorney Matthew Whitaker said Wednesday.
Whitaker, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa, said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents began scrutinizing employment documents at the Swift & Co. meatpacking plants in Iowa, Colorado, Nebraska, Texas, Utah and Minnesota.
On Tuesday, Whitaker announced some of the firsts arrests resulting from the raids. He said 23 people taken into custody during a raid at a Swift plant in Marshalltown have been charged with identity theft and immigration violations. In addition, seven other previous Swift workers taken into custody earlier in December have been charged.
Whitaker said 89 people had been taken into custody during the Marshalltown raid.
The number of people in Iowa now charged in violations is a small slice of about 1,300 people who were detained in six states during the raids last week. The nationwide figure is far smaller than the number of people targeted by federal agents, though, Whitaker said.
Among the 14,000 Swift employees at those plants, Whitaker said, agents had identified 4,300 people with questionable documentation.
Nationwide, about 199 people have been charged and are held in jails. The rest face a lengthy administrative procedure that could lead to deportation.
Whitaker said he initiated the six-state raid after the March document study uncovered 664 potential illegal aliens working at the Swift plant in Marshalltown.
“When that was brought to my attention by ICE, I determined that something had to be done,” he said. “It started off a series of events that included a national organization of five other judicial districts, which ultimately set up the enforcement actions that happened last Tuesday.”
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U.S. Attorney: Immigration crackdown not over
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