Colorado & Denver News

Associated Press Writers Jennifer Talhelm in Washington, Betsy Blaney in Lubbock, Texas, and Ed White in Salt Lake City contributed to this report.
GREELEY, Colo. (AP) ― Five men and women in orange jumpsuits and handcuffs were taken to court on identity theft charges Thursday as state and federal officials began the process of charging or deporting nearly 1,300 people arrested in a sweeping six-state immigration raid.

Meanwhile, aid workers braced for a flood of requests for help from families whose wage-earners were arrested. More than 300 relatives of people arrested in Tuesday's raid packed into the basement of a Catholic church Thursday evening to meet with immigration lawyers and representatives of the United Way, Catholic Charities and other community groups.

Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested 1,282 people in raids on Swift & Co. meat processing plants in Greeley and in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Texas and Utah Tuesday. About 5 percent face charges of buying or stealing other people's identities to get documents they needed so they could get jobs, ICE said. Officials said that number could grow.

Suspects facing only immigration charges were in federal custody awaiting hearings to determine whether they should be deported, said ICE spokesman Richard Rocha in Washington. He did not know when those hearings would occur.

Those facing other criminal charges will likely be moved to states where the crimes allegedly occurred, he said.

About 80 identity-theft cases in Utah and Colorado had been turned over to state authorities for prosecution. Rocha said he had no information on those cases and could not comment on the reasons they were transferred.

The five who appeared in Weld County District Court Thursday were being held for investigation of forgery and criminal impersonation. A judge set bail at $30,000 each and gave prosecutors until Monday to formally file charges.

Prosecutors said one was using the identity of a North Carolina man who died in 2005 and the others were using the names of three women and one man in Texas.

The alleged thefts were discovered when the victims or their families learned that someone using their names had wrecked a car, failed to pay taxes, applied for a loan, opened a bank account or obtained a driver's license in another state, prosecutors said.

Some of the victims said their wallets had been lost or stolen.

Other identity-theft suspects appeared in state court in Utah.

In Logan, Utah, authorities arrested a woman on suspicion of selling more than 300 birth certificates to create identities for people who wanted to get jobs at a Swift plant in Hyrum, Utah.

In Dumas, Texas, School Superintendent Larry Appel said a few of the district's students had both parents arrested in the sweep at the Swift plant in nearby Cactus.

"There's probably more families with one gone," he said. "I wouldn't have a clue how many. There's no way to tell."

At Our Lady of Peace Church in Greeley, the Rev. Bernie Schmitz said the goal of Thursday's meeting was to help families meet their immediate needs such as paying their bills and finding out what has happened to their loved ones. He said there was a sense of hope but also a lot of anxiety in the meeting, which was closed to the public.

"This whole event has had a profound impact on the community. It's like a shock and you're trying to figure out how to recover from that," Schmitz said outside the church, where many people from the community gathered to show their support and offer help.

Schmitz said that the raids might raise awareness that immigration isn't a simple issue and show how it affects families, businesess and the community as a whole.

"It's distinctly possible that this might open up a door, give a face to the whole question of immigration," he said.

Ernest Giron, a vice president of Catholic Charities in Denver, about 60 miles south of Greeley, said his agency will work with United Way and other community groups help the families of the arrested workers.

He said the raids demonstrate that immigration is a problem with deep roots that can't be resolved simply by law enforcement.

"It's putting a face to the complexity of immigration," he said. "It's a matter of how the law impacts a community, which is what we're seeing up in Greeley."

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