Barry County plant searched for illegal immigrants

At a news conference at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Hammons Tower, 901 St. Louis St., U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said the plant employees were taken into custody as part of an ongoing investigation into identity fraud and employment of illegal immigrants. The investigation is part of a nationwide effort to combat the unlawful employment of undocumented workers, officials said.

About 100 officers with ICE, the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General, U.S. Marshals Service and the Missouri Highway Patrol served the warrants at the processing plant in Butterfield, north of Cassville, said Pete Baird, assistant special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Kansas City.

Baird said previous federal indictments of five individuals for alleged Social Security fraud and firearms violations are linked to the warrants served at the plant, but he declined to elaborate on the connections.

There are no charges pending against George’s, which is based in Springdale, Ark. Eight employees are facing charges.

In a prepared statement from Vice President of Human Resources Glen Balch, George’s defended its employment practices.

“George’s makes every effort to comply with all employment and immigration laws, including voluntary participation in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency’s Basic Pilot Program, which verifies the names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers of any prospective employee prior to George’s hiring,” it read.

Balch did not respond to questions about the total number of employees at the plant or how the facility would continue to operate after losing more than 100 employees in a single day.

Authorities said May 22 they were still trying to determine if fraudulent documents allegedly used by plant employees were part of an organized identity theft ring.

Most of those arrested are from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, and 31 suspects were conditionally released for humanitarian reasons such as child care, said ICE spokesman Tim Counts.

Officials were still processing those in custody two days after the plant was searched, Counts said.

Ken Carlson, an ICE deputy field director in charge of detention and removal, said the alleged illegals were being processed in Springfield and would later be transported to county jails in Kansas City, St. Louis and Wichita, Kan.

Detainees will appear before a federal immigration judge in Kansas City unless they waive their rights to a hearing, he said.