AMARILLO, Texas - A federal grand jury here has charged 53 former employees of Swift & Company's Cactus, Texas, meat processing plant with aggravated identity theft and other various related charges.

Today's indictments were announced by U.S. Attorney Richard B. Roper, Northern District of Texas, and John Chakwin, the special agent in charge of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Investigations in Dallas.

"It is a serious federal crime to hijack and steal a citizen's good name and credit to illegally stay in the United States. These federal indictments demonstrate federal law enforcement's commitment to address rampant identity theft and immigration fraud," said U.S. Attorney Roper.

"The ICE investigation conducted around the Swift & Company plants discovered a number of cases of suspected identity theft, which is supported by these indictments," said ICE Special Agent in Charge Chakwin. "This investigation has shown how individual U.S. citizens are tragically affected when aliens steal identities to obtain work. The aliens charged today will have their day in court. If convicted, they'll first serve their sentences before they're removed to their countries of origin."

All 53 defendants were originally charged in criminal complaints following their arrests in mid-December when federal law enforcement officials executed warrants at Swift's Cactus plant as part of a nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration and identity theft. Each of the 295 people arrested at the Cactus plant last month had assumed the identities of U.S. citizens. Because the system would not have been able to handle that number of prosecutions, additional criteria were used to determine which individuals should be prosecuted.

The aliens arrested in last month's operation at Swift, but not prosecuted, will be or have been processed for removal from the United States.

Each of the defendants is charged in a separate felony criminal indictment; most of the defendants are charged with multiple felony counts. All 53 defendants are charged with one count of false representation of a Social Security number, which carries a maximum statutory sentence of five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine for each count.

Most of the defendants also face additional charges and associated penalties if convicted, including:

• aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory statutory sentence of two years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine per count;



• one count of fraud in connection with an immigration document, which carries a maximum statutory sentence of 10 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine per count; and



• one count of false representation of U.S. citizenship, which carries a three-year maximum statutory sentence and a $250,000 fine per count.

Seven of the defendants are also charged with illegal re-entry after deportation, which carries a maximum statutory sentence of two years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine per count. Two defendants are charged with aggravated felon re-entry after deportation, which carries a maximum statutory sentence of 20 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.

A listing of the defendants' names and charges is available at: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txn/pressreleases.html

U.S. Attorney Roper praised the excellent cooperative investigative work of ICE, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Border Patrol, and the Texas Department of Public Safety.

-- ICE --