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

Washington Post logoUnsealed documents detail trove of evidence, including videotaped statements by managers.

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.

View the complete August 15 article by Hannah Denham on The Washington Post website here.