Poultry plant execs face indictment

JACKSON, Miss. — Four executives from two Mississippi poultry processing plants have been indicted on federal charges tied to one of the largest workplace immigration raids in the United States in the past decade.

U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst and the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Matt Albence, announced the indictments as the documents were unsealed late last week.

Their announcement happened a day before the oneyear anniversary of the raids in which 680 people were arrested at seven poultry plants in central Mississippi.

None of the four people from the newly unsealed indictments was arrested on the day of the raids, said Hurst, who is the U.S. attorney for south Mississippi. He said they worked as managers, supervisors or human resources employees. Two people from the unsealed indictments worked at A&B Inc., a plant in Pelahatchie and the other two worked for Pearl River Foods LLC in Carthage.

Hurst said journalists have failed to focus on the American victims of identity theft — people whose Social Security numbers have been falsely used by immigrants working in the U.S. without proper documentation.

“The simple fact of the matter is, illegal aliens steal jobs of American citizens,” Hurst said. “And illegal aliens depress the wages of American citizens.”

Amelia S. McGowan, an attorney who works on behalf of immigrants for the Mississippi Center for Justice, responded later: “Trotting out anti-immigrant accusations won’t hide that the only theft here is the executives’ profiteering off vulnerable workers in unsafe conditions and at inadequate wages.”

Albence said last year’s raids in Mississippi have brought 126 indictments, 117 criminal arrests and 17 convictions. Hurst said the investigation continues.