Immigrants in raid may face prison

25 accused of stealing IDs in order to work

RALEIGH -- Twenty-five immigrants who were arrested last week in a pork plant raid face federal identity theft charges and, if convicted, substantial prison time, prosecutors said Tuesday.

The defendants -- who prosecutors say entered the country illegally and used stolen names and Social Security numbers to get jobs -- made their first appearance in federal court in Raleigh on Tuesday. Officials said there is no evidence the accused stole money or services using the identities, but the crime carries a prison term of between two and seven years, along with $250,000 in fines. They would likely be deported after serving their sentences, authorities said.

The defendants -- 11 men and 14 women from Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala -- shuffled into court Tuesday wearing leg irons and jail jumpsuits. They listened through earpieces to a Spanish interpreter as Judge William A. Webb explained the charges and assigned them a public defender.

All those in court Tuesday were current or former employees of Smithfield Foods' Bladen County factory, which is the world's largest pork slaughterhouse. They were taken in a raid that began last Wednesday before dawn.

Several of those arrested were mothers, and some were handcuffed in front of their children, according to worker advocates with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which is trying to organize the Smithfield plant. At least two women were single parents who left their children with family or neighbors, union representatives said, and others were still breast-feeding infants.

In one case, three children were left with a baby-sitter who had three children of her own and few resources to care for them, said Stan Chavira, a union organizer.

One woman, who federal public defender Thomas McNamara said was pregnant, was released after the hearing. The rest will be held until their trials.

Efforts to reach McNamara for further comment failed.

No pass for mothers

George Holding, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, said that having children couldn't excuse the workers from the consequences of serious crimes.

"Identity theft affects Americans of all walks of life," Holding said at a news conference after the hearing. "Breaking the law is always going to have terrible repercussions."

Holding said the arrests in this case were the culmination of a six-month investigation that began after U.S. citizens reported that their identities had been stolen.

Assistant U.S. Attorney James Candelmo said at least two victims suffered financial losses, and one nearly lost subsidized housing because of the income reported under her name. But Holding said that, while the investigation was still under way, there was no evidence so far that the defendants used the identities for the purpose of stealing money.

Four other people arrested in the raid last Wednesday are in deportation proceedings but do not face criminal charges, officials said.

Federal officials said that identity theft is a growing problem as illegal immigrants seek jobs in the United States.

A federal database now gives employers a quick way to catch fake Social Security numbers. As a result, more people are assuming the identities of real people, a crime that is more difficult to catch, said Ken Smith, special agent in charge for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Atlanta.

National crackdown

The arrests at the Smithfield plant are part of a nationwide crackdown, which has led to the capture of hundreds of illegal immigrants working in meatpacking plants during the past year. On Tuesday, ICE spokesman Richard Rocha said a raid at an Ohio poultry plant netted more than 100 arrests.