Up To 700 Arrested In Illegal Immigration Raid At Iowa Meat Plant

May 13, 2008

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Up to 700 employees at the AgriProcessor’s Plant, the largest kosher meatpacking plant, could be arrested as part of an immigration raid Monday.

Federal agents descended upon the plant in northeast Iowa at around 10 a.m. to execute a criminal search warrant for evidence relating to identity theft and fraudulent use of Social Security numbers among other crimes, according to US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. Agents were also executing a civil search warrant for people residing illegally in the United States.

Up to 500 agents and officers from federal, state, and local agencies were involved in Monday’s raid, which had been in the works for months.

According to a report in USA Today, those arrested are being held at a fairgrounds in Waterloo, Iowa, and in local jails. A total of 16 local, state and federal agencies, led by ICE, joined the investigation that began last October. They include the U.S. Marshals Service, the Iowa Department of Public Safety, the FBI, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the federal Drug Enforcement Agency.

According to an affidavit, “approximately 76% of the 968 employees of Agriprocessors were using false or fraudulent Social Security numbers in connection with their employment.” Read More

UPDATE: Buses have begun arriving at the Cattle Congress grounds in Waterloo after hundreds were detained in an immigration raid on a Postville meatpacking plant today.

Officials are not allowing media or others near the entrance. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have declined to say how many buses are being used in the raid on the Agriprocessors Inc. plant.

At least 300 people were arrested during the operation, the largest of its kind in Iowa, said Claude Arnold, a special agent with ICE.

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