4 poultry plant execs indicted after 2019 immigration raid

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — 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 U.S. 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 Thursday.

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

Hurst and Albence also scolded journalists for reports that focused on the arrests separating children from immigrant parents who were sent to detention centers.

“If a parent puts their child in that position where they commit a criminal act that subjects them to being arrested and detained ... that responsibility falls on them,” Albence said.

None of the four people from the newly unsealed indictments were 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.

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...