A federal judge in Tennessee today will give final approval of a settlement whereby the United States government will pay $1.17 million to dozens of immigrants captured during a raid on a meat processing plant nearly five years ago.
The plaintiffs alleged that the federal agents violated the civil rights of the workers, including using excessive force and arresting them solely because of their ethnicity.
According to the settlement, the people included in the class action will receive a total of $550,000 dollars and, if they request it, they will obtain a letter from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) confirming their membership in the group that can be included if they process immigration benefits. .
In addition, the federal government must pay $475,000 dollars to six of those people to resolve their demands for excessive use of force and illegal arrest, and another $150,000 dollars to cover the costs of lawyers and organizations that supported the workers’ complaint.
The raid on April 5, 2018, the nation’s largest on a work site in a decade, was carried out by agents from ICE, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Tennessee Highway Patrol and the Hamblen County City of Morristown Police Department.
Federal authorities said the action targeted James Brantley, owner of Southeastern Provisions slaughterhouse and meat packer in eastern Tennessee, for alleged financial crimes, including tax fraud.
Although the search warrant that authorized the raid made reference to the possible presence of undocumented immigrants at the plant, it did not authorize the capture, detention, or arrest of any person, documented or undocumented.
In the operation, heavily armed federal and police agents surrounded the plant and blocked all exits and surrounding streets, while a surveillance helicopter flew over the site. According to the plaintiffs, some officers used excessive force and insulted the Latino workers.
Federal agents found evidence that plant managers used substantial amounts of cash to directly pay workers, avoiding the registration and documentation requirements that required them to pay wage taxes.
Many of the Latino workers were not even asked about their documents until several hours after the raid. The detainees were ordered to line up, searched, ordered into trucks, and taken to a site about 20 miles from the plant.
None of this affected the non-Latino workers, who were allowed to leave the plant without issue.
The Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) immediately went to the site and assisted in reuniting families, locating detained individuals, and immediately addressing the needs of families.
According to TIRCC, more than 150 boys and girls were affected by the detention of their fathers or mothers, and the day after the raid almost 600 schoolchildren did not attend class due to fear in the community.
The National Immigration Law Center, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and attorneys who assisted the workers in their complaints have asserted that the purpose of the police action was to capture immigrants and had a serious and lasting impact on the local community.
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