 More than 12,000 meatpacking workers at six Swift Company plants were swept up in ICE raids on December 12, 2006, the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff later announced that approximately 1,297 persons had been arrested. Of those, 274 were charged criminally. The other 1,023 were to be charged as immigration status violators and processed for deportation, but as of March 1, 2007—the most recent reports available—649 had been deported. 
[Photo from the Associated Press]
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During the raids, Federal agents closed off the perimeter of the Swift facilities, detained workers and then interviewed them individually to determine their citizenship, background and employment status at the company.
"I was terrified," says Sonia Mendoza, who cuts brisket at the plant in Cactus, Tex. "They never showed us IDs that they were ICE agents or government agents....The whole plant felt we were under house arrest. We wondered: 'Do they have the right to use these guns and kill people?" Some workers were interrogated, accused of lying and badgered during contentious questioning. Workers were denied access to telephones, bathrooms and legal counsel. Union officials were denied access to the worksites. Citizens and legal residents were denied the opportunity to retrieve documents to establish their legal status. Some were handcuffed and held for hours. Others were shipped out on buses. Families, schools and day care centers could not be contacted to make arrangements for the children of detained workers. Families were left divided—not knowing where or when they might see a missing family member again.  The overwhelming majority of workers affected by these raids are U.S. citizens and legal residents. Protests to ICE officials were met with contempt or simply dismissed.
A subsequent review by federal officials of I-9s at Swift facilities nationwide revealed that Swift was in the process of verifying the legal status of 30% of those suspected of being fraudulent. Unfortunately, Swift had attempted to use a failed system of federal databases known as the Basic Pilot program (which uses Social Security and Department of Homeland information) to confirm workers’ eligibility. Swift & Company estimated the cost of the December 2006 immigration raids at six of its plants to $45 million to $50 million for its Fiscal Year 2007. The raids damaged the company so badly that it was later bought out by the largest meatpacker in South America, J&F Participacoes S.A. of Sao Paulo, Brazil. |
