Posted on 06/12/2007 1:13:37 PM PDT by dixiechick2000
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Federal agents raided offices at a food processing plant Tuesday after an undercover investigation found that hundreds of illegal workers were using Social Security numbers that belonged to somebody else or were made up.
The raid at American Staffing Resources Inc. offices at the Fresh Del Monte Produce fruit and vegetable processing plant at 9243 N. Rivergate Boulevard near the Portland shipyards was based on an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Social Security Administration that began last January, officials told The Associated Press. Authorities also raided the staffing company's office at 8926 N. Lombard St.
According to an affidavit filed by an immigration agent, an undercover informant told managers of both Del Monte and American Staffing Resources that he was not in the country legally and did not have proper identification for work. An employee of the staffing company gave him a counterfeit Social Security card and later gave him counterfeit Social Security and Resident Alien cards for others, the affidavit said.
A federal judge authorized agents to search for evidence of violations such as hiring illegal aliens, identity theft and Social Security fraud, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Portland.
Prosecutors said a federal grand jury indicted three people on criminal charges but the indictment remained under seal.
According to the affidavit, only 48 of nearly 600 employees at the plant had valid Social Security numbers.
Most were using a valid Social Security number belonging to somebody else, the court document said.
Of those whose Social Security numbers are being misused:
Seven are 60 years old or older and are receiving disability benefits. 13 are more than 70 years old. 18 are juveniles 29 are dead Authorities created a 24-hour toll-free hotline for family members of unauthorized workers who were arrested in Tuesday's operations. Operators can answer questions about detention status and the removal process. The number is (866) 341-3858.
Sorry for the drive-by post! But, I've got ironing to do. ;o)
OR ping, pretty please!
Hurry! Give them amnesty and invite them to bring their extended families too! It’s the only solution to the problem! Our economy will collapse without illegals to do all the work!
If I did this, it would be called identity theft.
And I would be sent to prison.
And nobody would be outraged that I was being separated from my family.
This just has to be a racist thing. Just ask Feinstein or McCain.
Isn't that, like, document fraud...?
Hmmmmm. Del Monte has big operations in my Northern Illinois town as well as another town 30 miles South. I wonder if this was a local policy or more wide-spread? We have a LOT of illegals in our area. It’d be nice to see some of ‘em disappear.
Thanks for the post and I suppose the gubmint is pretending to do what they have refused to do since 1986 Simpson/Masoli Bill promised they would (except of course for our Border Fence, which they still refuse to do, other than the few feet Bush used for his promo shot.)
I hope this copies okay.
I don't know nuttin' 'bout pdfs!
If it doesn't copy correctly, here's a link to find that link.
http://www.katu.com/
Oh yeah, this is going on everywhere and these are the fine upstanding people our government wants to give amnesty.
if they’d been doing this regularly for the past 6 years, perhaps we wouldn’t have the problems with illegal alien invaders that we do.
..ya did good DC
You don't have a Mexican who'll do you ironing?
Nothing ever invented is “tamperproof”. All you need is someone who knows HOW to make the ID and *poof* let there be fake “tamperproof” IDs. Obviously the staffing agency KNEW what was going on and were stealing IDs!! They SOLE IDs!!!!
Here is the solution to our ILLEGAL immigration problem: Enforce the laws! Send this company’s employees and executives, when proven to have violated the law, to JAIL, fine the company, deport the illegals to whichever country they came from, use the fines to repay the damages to the victims of ID theft, and seal the boarders. Wow... Not that hard! No “new” government agency required. Just let law enforcement and the Boarder Patrol do their jobs.
New laws will not work if the old laws cannot even be enforced.
Lovely. You'd think after the Portland Six, though they weren't illegals, folks might still want to be more security conscious. Sheesh.
Do this a couple of times on National TV and we will see less and less of this tactic!
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