020432 Charges vs. Nebraska Beef Dismissed

Lincoln, NE - A federal judge has dismissed charges of recruiting illegal workers that were filed against officials of a meatpacking plant, saying immigration agents acted in bad faith.

U.S. District Judge Richard G. Kopf rejected government arguments that Immigration and Naturalization agents had merely been sloppy in not asking workers at the Nebraska Beef plant certain questions or recording their answers during a raid.

"Several instances might merely be sloppy. A wholesale failure to follow customary procedures equals bad faith," the judge wrote.

Federal agents raided the Omaha plant on Dec. 5, 2000, and detained about 200 illegal immigrants. At the time, immigration officials said their target was not undocumented workers but midlevel managers who allegedly recruited the immigrants from Texas.

The plant's vice president of human resources, personnel manager, production manager and three recruiters were among seven people charged with conspiring to smuggle illegal immigrants.

The government alleged that illegal immigrants were brought by the busload from El Paso, Texas, given fraudulent Social Security numbers and put to work in the plant.

Attorneys for Nebraska Beef argued that answers illegal workers gave to questions during the raid could have provided the company with evidence to challenge the government's charges.

Most of the illegal workers were deported within two days of the raid. None of them was available for questioning by lawyers for the defendants, hindering the company's efforts to defend itself, the judge said.

U.S. Attorney Mike Heavican said his office probably would appeal.

If the seven had been convicted, they would have faced up to 10 years in federal prison and $250,000 in fines.

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