JACKSON, Mississippi-Federal prosecutors have charged 99 poultry farmers arrested in immigration raids in Mississippi in August. 

Court documents allege the companies knew who they were hiring.

But four companies focused on the operation have yet to be charged with hiring undocumented employees – and similar cases from across the country show they could have avoided prosecution altogether.

The Clarion Ledger’s review of past large-scale immigration raids on workplaces across the United States, including six raids under the trump administration, shows that investigations into employers often last more than a year and criminal charges rarely materialize.

U.S. immigration and customs enforcement arrested 680 migrant workers at six chicken processing plants in Mississippi on August 7, the largest RAID in the Agency’s history in a single state. Agents seized computers and documents to build their case that four companies knowingly hired unauthorized workers. 

“The fact that we haven’t seen (any employers) charged and no one towed on the day of the raids doesn’t surprise me,” said cliff Johnson, Director of the MacArthur justice Center in OLE Miss and a former assistant U.S. attorney. “You want to spend time with documents obtained during the RAID before making any final decisions about charging.” 

U.S. attorney Mike Hurst declined to comment on the status of his investigation into poultry companies, though he has previously pointed to a track record that includes prosecuting employers. 

But while 99 migrant poultry workers face various charges and the threat of deportation, the plants run by the two companies where most of the employees were arrested are back up and running.

POLL: 68% of mississippians want ICE owners to RAID chicken plants

Only 11 managers and no company were prosecuted between April 2018 and March 2019, an analysis by Syracuse University showed. Annual employer prosecutions have almost never risen above 15.

While prosecuting companies has always been rare, even fewer cases have been filed under the trump Administration compared to the Obama administration, according to a recent Washington Post report that examined data from Duke University and the University of Virginia. The slowdown comes as the trump administration dramatically increases the number of undocumented immigrants it arrests.

Under trump, a series of workplace raids began in early 2018, after then-acting ICE Director Thomas Homan promised that such operations would increase by ” 400 percent.” Several times since, authorities have touted the latest RAID as the largest in recent years, or in ICE history.

Companies often use similar playbooks when caught up in immigration raids. They point out publicly they have always used E-Verify. Or, they mention that many of their employees were vetted through a third-party recruitment Agency so they had no way of knowing if they were unauthorized.

The immigration and control act of 1986 made it illegal for employers to” knowingly ” hire unauthorized immigrants, which experts say could be used as a loophole for companies if they can make a case that they did not know. 

Koch sued after the RAID, claiming the government failed to show it” knowingly ” hired unauthorized workers. He said the company has always followed employment verification protocols, including E-Verify. 

Peko officials also said they have processed each applicant through E-Verify for “more than a decade.” The company said it hired an immigration law specialist after raids to audit factories and their hiring procedures, including checking identity documents and launching E-Verify.

“All of these facilities, including the RAID, have been audited,” Peko said in a statement, adding that he continues to cooperate with the Federal investigation. 

When 114 employees at Corso’s, an Ohio garden center, were arrested last year, the company issued a similar statement: “If someone used false, fraudulent, or otherwise insincere identity documents or other documents to secure employment at Corso’s, the company was unaware of these things.”

Koch Foods, with 243 workers arrested at the Morton plant, said it was working the day after the RAID and was continuing to look for applicants for various positions. 

Spokesman Jim Gilliland recently said it was “business as usual,” though he declined to comment on the hiring problems created by the raids. “We fulfill our customers’ orders, ” he said. “Our employees show up for work and do a great job.” 

In a statement, Peko said he “lost talented team members” in the raids, and continues to look for candidates who “have a legal right to work in the United States.” He said he was “working to improve production levels and efficiency after the August plant raids.” 

The two other companies raided, PH Foods and Pearl River Foods, did not respond to Clarion Ledger requests for their status. Morton mayor Gerald Keaton said the PH plant is functioning again, though not at full speed. 

ICE RAIDS: Chicken plants lured them. The feds put them in jail. How the migration crisis in Mississippi broke out

Experts say criminal charges are likely to be filed in the Mississippi poultry case. They point to the sheer size of the investigation and the evidence contained in the sworn search warrant, which suggest at least some company officials were aware of who they hired. 

“I would be surprised if There are no indictments against corporate officials and corporations themselves,” said Johnson, an OLE Miss Professor who has volunteered with a group called the Mississippi Immigration coalition, helping migrant workers and their families affected by the raids. He said the key question would be: how high up the corporate ladder would prosecutors ” be willing and able to go?” 

“This was a criminal case,” said mark reed, a former senior immigration and naturalization Service official, a predecessor of ICE. But, he added, there are external political factors, such as the long-term impact on the employment of small communities, that could limit how aggressively prosecutors are allowed to prosecute companies.

“Who knows what’s going on behind the scenes with this case,” he said. 

Companies often negotiate fines and avoid prosecution, at least for top ups, including in two past known Mississippi cases.

Country Club of Jackson admitted hiring illegal immigrants more than a decade ago, but no charges were filed against the leaders; it eventually paid a $ 214,500 fine.

After about 600 were arrested in the 2008 RAID on Howard Industries in Laurel – then the largest single-worker RAID in U.S. history – the company dropped the indictment and paid a $ 2.5 million fine. Only one employee of the company, Jose Humberto Gonzalez, a former personnel Manager, was charged. He was sentenced to six months of house arrest and probation. 

And two years earlier, top swift

The Loading Trail company, a Texas trailer company, also paid a fine for its immigration violations in 2014. For its current case, Load Trail attorney gene Besen said the company is in a “cooperative position” with the feds and is holding ongoing conversations with prosecutors about resolving the current case. In another prominent Texas case, Waste Management recently agreed to pay the feds $ 5.5 million under a no-charge agreement for similar immigration violations in 2012. 

Criminal cases against workers rounded up in Mississippi raids – and possibly their employers – could drag on for years, experts say. Meanwhile, the nation’s largest-ever RAID on workplace immigration is likely to soon be replaced by a larger one under the trump administration, which has made clear its intentions to crack down on illegal immigrants. 

Days after the Mississippi raids, CNN reported, the White house has instructed ICE officials to conduct “dozens” more work operations this year. ICE offices across the country have been ordered to identify two locations in their regions as”potential targets.”

Contact Luke Ramsett at 601-961-7050 or [email protected] Follow @lramseth on Twitter.