Hundreds of workers arrested

More than 300 suspected illegal immigrants were arrested Tuesday morning at a chicken processing plant near Greenville, S.C. —- the latest in a stepped-up federal enforcement effort that has resulted in the deportation of thousands of illegal workers in recent months.

Tuesday’s raid was led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, including agents from Atlanta, and involved hundreds of authorities from numerous agencies. The target was the House of Raeford’s Columbia Farms, a processing plant that had been the subject of a 10-month criminal investigation.

Greenville area resident David Wynn, 48, witnessed the hubbub from down the street, and applauded the news.

“The excuse that they’re taking jobs that Americans won’t do —- well that just doesn’t hold water anymore,” said Wynn, 48, the co-owner of a nearby air-conditioning wholesaler who spoke Tuesday afternoon by phone. “With the economic crisis we’ve got going on, we’ve got to put a stop to it.”

Workplace raids like the one at Columbia Farms have become increasingly common toward the end of the Bush administration, especially since Congress last year failed to pass an overhaul of U.S. immigration laws. Critics decry what they contend is the rough treatment of illegal immigrants, as well as the disruption to families.

“Families are going to be broken apart,” said Maria Juan, 22, who was among the relatives and friends who gathered near the plant after the raid. “There will be kids and babies left behind. Why are they doing this? Why? They didn’t do anything. They only wanted to work.”

ICE Special Agent Kenneth Smith of Atlanta said the Greenville raid and others like it address the root of the problem.

“ICE targets employers because the promise of employment draws illegal workers across our borders,” Smith said in a statement Tuesday. “By holding employers accountable we are diminishing the magnet and discouraging others from breaking the law.”

Federal officials earlier this year arrested 12 supervisors at the plant. Eleven of them, all Mexican men, were illegal immigrants who were charged with aggravated identity theft and making false statements. Seven have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.

The 12th was a human resources manager, Elaine Crump, 48. She was indicted on 20 counts of filing false federal identification forms.

Barbara Gonzalez, an ICE spokeswoman, said Tuesday that the investigation continues.

House of Raeford processes chickens and turkeys in eight plants in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana and Michigan. A woman at the company’s Rose Hill, N.C., headquarters had no immediate comment.

Staff writer Mary Lou Pickel and The Associated Press contributed to this article.