Dec 19, 2006 9:37 am US/Mountain
Prosecutors: Only One Plant Worker Wanted Lawyer
GREELEY, Colo. (AP) ―
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About 1,000 ICE officials raided Swift & Co. plants in six states.
CBS
Workers questioned during last week's
immigration raid in Greeley were not forced to talk to agents and those arrested were informed of their rights, federal prosecutors said in court filings Monday.
Only one of the 260 people detained in the raid at
Swift and Company's beef and lamb plants Dec. 12 requested a lawyer and about 75 people without criminal records agreed to be sent back to Mexico that night without a hearing, the filing said.
The union said they have provided legal representation to more than 30 workers.
A total of 1,282 people were arrested at Swift plants in six states in the raid, which
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement said was a crackdown on an identity-theft scheme. Only 65 are facing identity-theft or other criminal charges. The others were held for suspected immigration violations.
The union representing plant workers has asked a federal judge to order the release of the detained workers, arguing that their constitutional rights have been violated.
The United Food and Commercial Workers claim the workers were denied access to lawyers, held without being charged or offered bond and deported without hearings. They also claim that the raid was an excuse to round up suspected illegal immigrants and that workers were illegally stopped and questioned by immigration agents in the Greeley plant's cafeteria.
"The sheer disparity between the numbers of employees arrested versus those charged with any crime related to identity theft is a vivid example of ICE's abuse of its police power," union lawyers said in a filing Monday.
Union representative and worker Joanne Lopez claims ICE agents refused to let her talk to workers in the cafeteria during the raid.
But federal prosecutors argued that no doors were locked in the cafeteria and no one was prevented from leaving. Those who were arrested were advised of their rights twice in English and Spanish -- on the bus on the way to the ICE processing center in Lakewood and in writing once they arrived.
They also said federal government has the authority to arrest anyone in the country illegally without offering them bond or other rights given to criminal defendants.
According to the federal court filing, the lone worker who requested a lawyer was released because he was already in the process of being deported. The filing said it was also difficult to confirm which workers were detained because some of them were using aliases.
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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