Print-Friendly Version    

The federal government has brought relatively few cases charging
employers with knowingly hiring unauthorized foreign workers. Despite an
undercover operation and preparation that cost $2 million, a jury in
Tennessee acquitted Tyson Foods in March 2003 of charges that it engaged
in a nationwide conspiracy to hire migrants to reduce labor costs and
boost profits after a six-week trial. Two former Tyson managers who made
plea deals with prosecutors, agreeing to testify against Tyson, received
one year of probation.

In 2002, federal prosecutors dropped an appeal against four Nebraska
Beef managers who were accused of conspiring to hire undocumented workers
after a federal judge dropped the charges when the INS deported the
immigrant witnesses. When the case was dropped, the company agreed to
donate $ 150,000 to the Interfaith Immigration Services of Nebraska.
Over the past five years, only 11 companies in Nebraska and Iowa have
paid fines for knowingly employing undocumented workers, and only 55 of
the 4,315 illegal migrants apprehended in the two states in FY02 were
caught in work-site operations.

In Iowa, John Glessner Jr., head of Iowa Ag LLC, agreed to pay $300,000
to settle racketeering charges stemming from his providing up to 550
workers for egg farms owned by Jack DeCoster, one of the nation's largest
farming operators; he was also sentenced to four months in prison.
Dozens of illegal workers were apprehended at DeCoster egg farms in
northern Iowa between January 1997 and February 2002. DeCoster, 68, also
faces two counts of engaging in a pattern and practice of aiding and
abetting illegal immigrants.

In October 2002, DeCoster, his farm business and Iowa Ag agreed to a
$1.5 million civil settlement in a case filed by the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission on behalf of 11 female workers who accused
supervisors of sexual assault and sexual discrimination.

In a July 2003 interview, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Regional
Director John F. Dulles recounted pressures not to enforce employer
sanctions laws: "I recall a situation in Arizona in which I was talking
to a high-level immigration enforcement officer. His team had discovered
a forgery ring, which was producing counterfeit documents and selling
them. It was a very lucrative business and he was preparing for a raid
to arrest the ringleaders. But it turned out that a police action would
have endangered the ability of the fruit and vegetable growers to harvest
their crops. That fact percolated through influential politicians in
Washington and in the end he was told not to make a move."

"Civil Rights Chief Says Jury Still Out On State's Stance On
Immigrants," Rocky Mountain News, July 17, 2003. Chris Clayton,
"Glessner gets prison time in labor case," Omaha World Herald, July 1,
2003. Cindy Gonzalez, "Illegal hires rarely tied to employers," Omaha
World Herald, April 27, 2003.