The company could not comment until federal investigators provide more information.
(PORTLAND, Ore.) - Federal agents raided the offices of a Portland food processing plant Tuesday, over suspicions that the company hires and employs hundreds of illegal aliens.
It is reported that around 175 workers were taken into custody over suspicion of illegal immigration. They will be processed for possible deportation.
Three of those who were detained reportedly also face ID theft. immigration and illegal document charges, immigration officials said. They are alleged to have ties with the illegal use of Social Security numbers that bwere stolen or forged altogether.
The Associated Press reports that the raids drew fire from Portland Mayor Tom Potter. He says he is OK with the three arrests of wanted people but told reporters, "to go after local workers who are here to support their families while filling the demands of local businesses for their labor is bad policy."
The detained workers will be at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Wash. They will appear in front of an immigration judge.
For now, more than 30 of the people taken into custody have been released over humanitarian concerns federal officials say, with a notice to appear.
Leigh Winchell, a special federal agent with Immigrations and Customs, said he sympathized with the mayor and felt sorry for the families affected by the raid.
"We don't always necessarily agree with the laws placed in front of us," he said. "I don't make the laws. I enforce the laws."
One source says that a check of employee records at the Fresh Del Monte Produce fruit and vegetable processing plant at one point, showed that out of the nearly 600 workers at the Fresh Del Monte Produce fruit and vegetable processing plant, only 48 had valid Social Security numbers.
An official at Fresh Del Monte Produce Co. headquarters in Coral Gables, Fla., told reporters that his company could not comment until federal investigators provide it with more information.
The three people who were indicted were Jose de Jesus Zarazua-Lopez, who agents say re-entered the United States illegally after being convicted of heroin charges and deported to Mexico, Jose Dejesus Buenrostro who is accused of "encouraging an illegal immigrant" and Margarita Amezcua-Salvador, who stands accused of possessing counterfeit alien registration documents, identity theft, selling a Social Security card, and encouraging an illegal immigrant.
Federal officials say the raid was based on an investigation by ICE and the Social Security Administration that began in January.
Federal Agents Raid Oregon Business Over Illegal ImmigrantsSalem-News.com