By Dan Horn
The Cincinnati Inquirer
dhorn@enquirer.com
No managers or company officials at Koch Foods Co. will be prosecuted as a result of an immigration raid two years ago at the company’s poultry processing plant in Fairfield.
Federal prosecutors and a company lawyer confirmed this week that the criminal investigation into Koch and its managers is over and that no one would face charges.
The decision comes two years after federal and local law enforcement agencies raided Koch’s processing plant and vowed to pursue charges against anyone at Koch who turned a blind eye to immigration laws when they hired the 161 illegal immigrants arrested during the raid.
After the raid in August 2007, law enforcement officials said the illegal workers used fraudulent identification documents to get jobs at Koch and that the large number of arrests raised questions about whether the company bent or broke the rules.
Butler County Sheriff Rick Jones, an outspoken advocate for tougher immigration enforcement, warned businesses after the raid that “you can’t come here and commit a crime and go unscathed.”
The investigation, however, ran into trouble when immigration officials tried to prove anyone with Koch knowingly broke the law.
“Koch foods did every procedure that was required at the time,” said Martin Pinales, one of the company’s lawyers. “We followed the law.”
He said company officials struggled to find a balance between federal laws that seemed to give employers conflicting instructions about handling job applications. On one hand, he said, the law required the company to vigilantly check documents, but on the other it forbade employers from singling out immigrants for greater scrutiny.
“When documents are presented and they, on the surface, look correct, we have to accept them,” Pinales said. “We can’t discriminate.”
Pinales said hiring rules have since been tightened nationwide and the company now uses a government-approved electronic system to verify identification papers.
Federal prosecutors would not discuss the investigation, but they confirmed it was over.
“We have declined to prosecute the case,” said Fred Alverson, spokesman for U.S. Attorney Greg Lockhart.
The morning raid at Koch’s plant was part of a two-year investigation into the hiring practices of the Chicago-based company. Immigration officials described the company as “an egregious violator” of U.S. immigration laws, which meant the company was suspected of knowingly hiring undocumented workers.
The raid was the largest in Greater Cincinnati in years and was among the largest in the country in 2007.
All of the arrested workers faced deportation proceedings and about 20 also were charged with forgery, tampering with records and identity fraud. Many were deported within weeks of their arrest, but immigration officials were not immediately available Thursday to discuss the status of all of the arrested workers.
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090827/NEWS01/308270043/No+charges+in+2007+raid+at+Koch+Foods
