HYRUM, Cache County — Federal officials released few details Tuesday of a 10-month investigation that resulted in immigration raids at six Swift & Co. facilities, including its plant in Hyrum.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is expected to release details at a press conference today of the investigation into the alleged theft of identities of U.S. citizens and lawful residents by "large numbers" of illegal immigrants in order to gain employment.
There were no criminal charges against Swift, ICE spokesman Marc Raimondi said.
"We are targeting the illegal action of some of their employees and the illegal status of many of their employees," Raimondi said.
More than 1,000 people are employed at the meat processing plant, according to the Department of Workforce Services.
While federal agents did not immediately release the number of arrests, activists believed that 80 or more people were detained and taken from the facility in at least two busloads.
The police and ICE presence at various entrances to the plant was heavy Tuesday, and several workers leaving the facility about 2:30 p.m. declined to speak to the Deseret Morning News.
Community activists say the plant had apparently been locked down for much of the morning while federal agents executed a warrant to search for and apprehend illegal alien workers on site.
ReNee Garcia of Logan spent part of Tuesday afternoon trying to collect information about Armando Rodriguez, a brother-in-law, whom Garcia had been told was among those arrested.
"We haven't heard from him at all," Garcia said. "We've been waiting for him to call and there's nothing. ... I need to find out if he's OK."
During one trip to the plant Tuesday, Garcia was turned away by police.
"What are we going to do, smuggle them in our pockets?" she said. "We need to talk to them. We need to know what we can do to help them."
Calls and e-mails to Swift, a beef and pork processor based in Greeley, Colo., were referred to vice president Sean McHugh, who declined to comment beyond a press release, which said operations at all six facilities had been temporarily halted while federal agents interviewed employees.
In the release, Sam Rovit, president and CEO of Swift, said his company participates in a federal program to verify the work eligibility of its employees.
"Swift has never condoned the employment of unauthorized workers, nor have we ever knowingly hired such individuals," Rovit said. "Swift has played by the rules and relied in good faith on a program explicitly held out by the president of the United States as an effective tool to help employers comply with applicable immigration laws."
The company believes ICE's actions "violate the agreements associated with the company's participation over the past 10 years in the federal government's Basic Pilot worker authorization program and raise serious questions as to the government's possible violation of individual workers' civil rights," the press release said.
On its Web site, ICE details IMAGE, or ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers, which includes steps such as using Basic Pilot, submitting to federal audits of I-9 employment eligibility forms, and implementing internal training on detecting fraudulent documents.
However, Raimondi said while Basic Pilot is "one of the tools available to industry ... it does not absolve or give amnesty to employees that are in violation of law."
At a press conference following a meeting with the U.S. attorney in Salt Lake City, Latino community activists said the raid would result in broken families, something they say will continue unless Congress acts to pass comprehensive immigration reform.
"What happened with this ...
raid should serve as a wake-up call for all of us," said John Renteria, president of Centro Civico Mexicano. "Business raids will probably become more commonplace in the future."
An information meeting for the community will be held at 6 p.m. today at Ebenezer Church of God in Hyrum.
Teens were frightened Tuesday at Mountain Crest High School in Hyrum, said Rolando Murillo, a member of the Ogden community group ACELA.
"Kids were crying in the halls," Murillo said. "People are scared."
Garcia said that because of Swift's documentation requirements, she believed Rodriguez had all the required paperwork to work there. She called the lack of information "torture."
"You have these family members that are suffering and don't know anything about what's going on," she said. "Your mind is racing. Your heart is beating with enormous pounding and it feels like you want to jump out of your skin and go to him and be there faster.
"You think about all these families that have kids. What are they going to do?"
Swift's statement indicated the company was unsure how the investigation would impact its business or operations. The six facilities in Hyrum; Greeley; Grand Island, Neb.; Cactus, Texas; Marshalltown, Iowa; and Worthington, Minn., represent all of Swift's domestic beef processing and 77 percent of its pork processing capacity.
ICE reported that aliens are being arrested on administrative immigration violations and, in some cases, existing criminal arrest warrants. Additional criminal charges of aggravated identity theft and other violations may also be brought.