US: Nearly 400 immigrant workers arrested in slaughterhouse raid

In all, 16 local, state and federal agencies were involved in the raids, which had been prepared for months.

Most of those arrested were from either Mexico or Guatemala, while some others were immigrants from Israel and Ukraine. The bulk of them were charged with Social Security fraud for using false numbersa supposedly criminal offense that results in their forfeiting the contributions deducted from their paychecksor with the civil offense of lacking proper immigration status.

After being interrogated and handcuffed at the plant, the workers were taken away in Homeland Security buses with covered windows. Over 300 male employees were taken to a makeshift detention camp at the National Cattle Congress fairgrounds in nearby Waterloo, Iowa, where armed guards were posted at the gates. Meanwhile, 76 women were crowded into the Hardin County Jail.

Violeta Aleman, a worker at the plant and a US citizen since 2003, told the Cedar Rapids Gazette that the armed agents herded the workers into the cafeteria and ordered them to form two lines, one for US citizens and one for legal residents, while the undocumented immigrants were told to remain seated.