According to an article by the Associated Press, the company that runs a South Carolina poultry plant, Columbia Farms Inc., knew its managers were hiring illegal immigrants at a facility raided in October, federal prosecutors said in an indictment released July 16.
U.S. Attorney Walt Wilkins added Columbia Farms Inc. to an indictment that already charges plant manager Barry Cronic and personnel manager Elaine Crump of illegally hiring workers at a processing plant in Greenville.
In the indictment, handed down by a federal grand jury, Columbia Farms Inc., is named in nearly 30 charges. Through Crump and Cronic, the company knowingly continued to employ 29 illegal immigrants, the first of whom was hired in November 2001, prosecutors said.
The managers had been accused of telling employees to use falsified documents and could face both fines and prison time if convicted. Columbia Farms itself could face additional fines.
North Carolina-based House of Raeford, which owns the plant, said it doesn't knowingly hire illegal immigrants and is cooperating with investigators. The parent company has not been charged.
In the aftermath of the South Carolina raid, prosecutors said a review of immigration paperwork for 825 employees showed that more than 775 contained false information. Most of the illegal workers swept up in the raid were quickly deported, but others pleaded guilty and are serving time in prison for criminal charges like using illegal documents and false Social Security numbers or re-entering the country illegally.
Crump, Cronic and the company itself are scheduled to be arraigned in federal court in Greenville later this month.
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People and companies who hire illegals are back stabbing the American worker and undermining the rule of law. I hope they receive the maximum possible jail time.
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