Staff Photo by Tim Barber -- The Peeples Street gate of the Pilgrim's Pride poultry plant bustles with traffic this morning as business continues while authorities conduct a raid in search of illegial immigrant workers.

Workers from the Pilgrim’s Pride chicken processing plant in downtown Chattanooga are being interviewed at a local warehouse to determine if they will be face charges, officials said.

Immigration agents interviewed the employees today as part of a yearlong, multi-state investigation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Leticia Zamarripa said.

The agents detained about 100 workers at two Chattanooga plants, Suana Betancourt, Pilgrim’s Pride chaplain, said.

“Another chaplain of the plant called me this morning to tell me about what was happening,” she said, “We went there right away to try to calm everyone down because they were afraid immigration was going to take all of them.”

Mrs. Betancourt said immigration agents gave a document to the workers explaining it was not a raid.

“Apparently they had a list of people that had committed identity theft and that they had called their names individually,” she said.

Immigration agents have been inside the Pilgrim’s Pride chicken processing plant since 8:15 a.m. as part of a the criminal investigation that includes other plants in Jacksonville, Fla., Charles Town, W.Va., and Batesville, Ark., Mrs. Zamarripa said.

Ray Atkinson, a spokesman for Pilgrim’s Pride, said the company worked with government officials at all five of the plants where workers were arrested today.

“We knew about it in advance and we cooperated fully,” he said. “Pilgrim’s Pride is not being charged with any civil or criminal charges. According to the information we have, the individuals who were arrested today were engaged in immigration-related crimes, including aggravated identity theft, in order to gain fraudulent employment with our company.”

Mr. Atkinson said Pilgrim’s Pride has employed outside experts to help with its immigration compliance and has voluntarily participated for the past couple of years in E-verify, the Homeland Security program designed to determine employment eligibility for all new hires.

“However, as noted by Michael Chertoff, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, the E-Verify/Basic Pilot program cannot detect identity theft situations,” Mr. Atkinson said.

Mrs. Zamarripa said that once the agents determine if the individual is an unauthorized worker, they will decide if it is a criminal or administrative case.

Criminal cases usually involve people who have been deported before or who were using false, bought or borrowed documents, Mrs. Zamarripa said.

Administrative cases involve people who, for example, entered the country illegally and don’t have a criminal record, she said.

Men who are arrested on administrative immigration violations will be transported to the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin Ga., and women to the Davidson County Jail near Nashville, officials said.

Those charged with criminal charges will have to appear in federal court. Mrs. Zamarripa said the agency also is working closely with the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services to ensure no child is left without the proper care.

In December, 21 employees of Pilgrim’s Pride were arrested at two plants in Texas and charged with ID fraud and immigration violations, according to news reports.

People seeking information about the status of those detained call the ICE “friends and family line” at 866-341-3858. Information is available in Spanish and English.

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