INS INVESTIGATION OF TYSON FOODS, INC.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – – Michael Chertoff, Assistant Attorney General for
the Criminal Division announced today that a federal grand jury in
Chattanooga, Tennessee returned a thirty-six count indictment against
executives and managers of Tyson Foods, Inc., the world’s largest producer,
processor, and marketer of poultry-based food products, for conspiracy to
smuggle illegal aliens to Tyson Foods processing facilities in the United
States for profit.
“The Department of Justice is committed to vigorously investigating and
prosecuting companies or individuals who exploit immigrants and violate our
nation’s immigration laws,” said Chertoff. “The bottom line on the corporate
balance sheet is no excuse for criminal conduct.”
The thirty-six count indictment unsealed today in United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Tennessee, is the result of a two-and-one-half
year undercover investigation conducted by the Immigration and Naturalization
Service (INS) into the business practices of Tyson Foods. Tyson Foods
executives and managers are accused in the indictment of conspiring to import
and transport illegal alien workers from the Southwest border to Tyson plants
throughout the United States. Fifteen Tyson Foods plants in nine states have
been implicated in this conspiracy to defraud the United States government.
“This case represents the first time INS has taken action against a company of
Tyson’s magnitude,” said INS Commissioner James Ziglar. “INS means business
and companies, regardless of size, are on notice that INS is committed to
enforcing compliance with immigration laws and protecting America’s
workforce.”
According to the indictment, Tyson Foods cultivated a corporate culture in
which the hiring of illegal alien workers was condoned in order to meet
production goals and cut costs to maximize profits. The indictment describes a
scheme by which the defendants requested delivery of illegal aliens to work at
Tyson plants in the United States and aided and abetted them in obtaining
false documents so they could work at Tyson poultry processing plants “under
the false pretense of being legally employable.”
In addition to charging Tyson Foods Inc., the indictment includes two
corporate executives, Robert Hash, Vice-President, Retail Fresh Division and
Gerald Lankford, former Human Resources Manager, Retail Fresh. Also indicted
are four former managers Keith Snyder, Complex Manager, Noel, Missouri; Truley
Ponder, former Complex Manager, Shelbyville, Tennessee; Spencer Mabe, former
Plant Manager, Shelbyville, Tennessee; and Jimmy Rowland, former Complex
Personnel Manager, Shelbyville, Tennessee.
The United States Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee, the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, the Department
of Agriculture, the Department of Labor, the Social Security Administration,
the Bedford County Tennessee Sheriff’s Department, the Shelbyville Tennessee
Police Department and the Tennessee Highway Patrol participated in this INS
investigation.