Swift and Company ICE raids, 2006

On Tuesday, December 12, 2006, federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents raided six meat-processing plants in six US states, including one in Worthington, Minnesota. At the Worthington plant alone, 239 workers were detained, leaving the city’s 11,283 residents in a state of turmoil. Children and families sought out community churches for asylum while local organizations worked tirelessly to establish faith-based and interpersonal networks to support the Worthington community.

In early 2006, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials conducted a ten-month investigation into identity theft in Swift & Company, an eight-billion-dollar meat-processing business that was also the second-largest in the world. After the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) met with Swift officials, the company established a more rigorous procedure to review workers’ documents. Through a voluntary internet-based program called Basic Pilot/E-Verify, maintained by DHS and the Social Security Administration (SSA), Swift fired over 400 undocumented workers.

According to the National Immigration Law Center, SSA database errors can misidentify about 3.6 million workers a year as not authorized for employment. The Basic Pilot/E-Verify can confirm whether a Social Security number is valid, but fail to detect when two people use the same number. Swift’s decision to use the program empowered corporate headquarters to deny any wrongdoing in their hiring practices, leaving the blame solely on the undocumented workers.

Employees of the Swift plant in Worthington went to work as usual on the morning of December 12. It was a holy day for the Latino community dedicated to celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe. In 2006, however, the day turned out to be far from a celebration. Ten white buses with tinted windows parked in front of the plant while 100-plus federal officers cordoned off areas of the building. ICE agents then arrested 239 people. They even arrested US citizens on false illegal immigration charges. The buses transported the detainees to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and to Camp Dodge, a military installation in Johnston, Iowa. Out of those 239 detainees, only twenty were criminally charged with identity-related counts.

As the Worthington raid progressed, federal agents also arrested workers at Swift plants in Colorado, Nebraska, Texas, Utah, and Iowa. They arrested 1,297 undocumented immigrants in total, making it the largest federal immigration raid in US history. While all those arrested faced illegal immigration charges, several hundred were also charged with illegally assuming the identity of US citizens by using fraudulently acquired Social Security numbers.

Federal agents raided the Worthington plant, like the other Swift sites, using civil warrants instead of criminal arrest warrants. ICE searched the premises, questioned employees about their immigration status, and failed to inform detainees of their immediate right to an attorney. Those held in detention centers were allowed out on bond after their processing only if they had no criminal record.

Fear and intimidation spread rapidly through the city. In the days that followed, friends, family, and neighbors chanted “raza si, migra no” (“the people, yes, immigration authorities, no”) in protest of the raid. Worthington residents no longer felt safe. Families were afraid to go home. Children were separated from their parents, many of whom had only found out about the raids when no one came to pick them up from school.

Community churches immediately acted as sanctuaries while local organizations generated a range of faith-based networks and community connections to support their Worthington residents effectively . The Communidad Christiana (Christian Community) church on Oxford Street opened its doors to children seeking asylum. Lawyers from the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota assisted in bond hearings and offered legal help with visas, forms, and work authorizations.

It took Swift four-to-five months to resume full production. The company had to launch a major transportation initiative in all of their plants to attract immediate unskilled labor. For example, in Worthington, the company began busing in workers from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, attracting African refugees with employment authorization documents. Swift also sought out workers in homeless shelters in cities like Minneapolis and St. Paul, resulting in many single mothers arriving with their children.

On September 4, 2007, Gloria Contreras-Edin, the executive director of Centro Legal, an immigrant rights law firm since 1981, filed a lawsuit against DHS on behalf of ten Latino plaintiffs. The suit alleged constitutional violations as well as abuse and humiliation on account of race. Federal judge Joan Ericksen dismissed the case in 2009. Swift had been bought by JBS, a Brazilian meat company, in an all-cash deal on July 12, 2007.