DOJ and ICE REACH $4.5 MILLION AGREEMENT WITH PILGRIM'S PRIDE

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced December 30 that ICE and Pilgrim’s Pride reached a non-prosecution agreement to resolve an investigation with respect to the hiring and employment of unauthorized aliens at Pilgrim's Pride's plants in the Eastern District of Texas. Under the terms of the agreement, Pilgrim's Pride agrees to pay $4.5 million and adopt more stringent immigration compliance practices to ensure that its work force is composed of employees legally entitled to work in the United States. In return, the U. S. Attorney's Office agrees to conclude its immigration-related investigation of Pilgrim's Pride and any current or former employees that began in 2007.  Pilgrim’s Pride will pay the settlement fine over the next three years.

In a factual statement accompanying the agreement, the parties acknowledge that at the beginning of the investigation, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had reason to believe that a substantial number of unauthorized aliens were employed at several Pilgrim's Pride plants. As part of that investigation, twenty-five unauthorized aliens were arrested in the Eastern District of Texas in December 2007 and charged with misuse of a Social Security Account number. In early 2008, a number of worksite enforcement actions were conducted by ICE at five Pilgrim's Pride plants in Texas, Florida, West Virginia, Arkansas, and Tennessee, resulting in the apprehension of approximately 338 unauthorized aliens. Thirty-eight illegal aliens were convicted in the Eastern District of Texas for misuse of a Social Security Account number.

At the time of the arrests, Pilgrim's Pride said the employees taken into custody represented about 4% of its work force at the facilities, which included its plants in Batesville, Ark.; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Live Oak, Fla.; Morefield, W.Va.; and Mt. Pleasant, Texas. The company said it terminated all employees who were arrested and would terminate employees found to have engaged in similar misconduct.

As part of the settlement, Pilgrim's Pride agreed to enhance its compliance programs to more accurately identify unauthorized persons who seek or gain employment through identity fraud.

The company said no criminal or civil charges were ever filed against it during the investigation. It added the settlement didn't constitute any admission of misconduct on the part of the company or its executives.

The news comes two days after Pilgrim's Pride announced it had emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, completing a 13-month restructuring. The company and other meatpackers have been hurt by weak demand, partially due to woes at recession-hit restaurants, and have closed plants.