Round-up of illegal immigrant employees using stolen ids as Swift

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16169899/

"ID thieves targeted in immigration raids
Feds raid Swift meat-packing plants at six locations
NBC VIDEO


• Feds raid meat plants
Dec. 12: Federal agents raided six meatpacking plants in six states on Tuesday, targeting illegal immigrants accused of using stolen identities. NBC's Pete Williams reports.
MSNBC

NBC News and news services
Updated: 4 minutes ago
GREELEY, Colo. - Federal agents on Tuesday raided six meatpacking plants across the country, targeting illegal immigrants who obtained jobs by stealing the identities of U.S. citizens.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents had surrounded the Swift plant in Greeley as well as five other Swift plants. It was not immediately known how many people were rounded up in the raids.

Authorities say the investigation began in February and that they have identified hundreds of potential victims.
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http://redtape.msnbc.com/2006/12/meatpacking_rai.html#posts

"Meatpacking raids: A victim's story
Posted: Wednesday, December 13 at 02:09 pm CT by Bob Sullivan

Theresa Sanchez was expecting a $5,400 tax refund when she opened a letter from the IRS in January 2003. Instead, she got a bill demanding payment of taxes on $120,000 in undeclared wages. Someone using her name and Social Security number had earned the money through a series of jobs dating back to 1996 and had not paid any taxes on the income, the letter said.

Sanchez complained to the agency and to the Federal Trade Commission that her identity had been stolen, and was being used by someone to gain employment. Nonetheless, more than two years later, in April 2005, a woman walked into the Swift & Co. meatpacking plant in Greeley, Colo., and used Theresa Sanchez's name and Social Security number to get a job.

The woman’s employment ruse became public knowledge Tuesday when authorities raided Swift & Co. plants in six states and arrested approximately 1,300 illegal immigrants suspected of buying or stealing other people’s identities to secure U.S. jobs.
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“The government has known since at least August 2005 that the current Basic Pilot program cannot successfully detect identity theft and would likely permit an unauthorized worker to be improperly verified,” U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson wrote in her order denying an injunction filed by Swift to stop the raids.

“Some Social Security numbers are widely used at multiple locations, over 200 workplaces for some numbers,” she wrote.
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Even an identity with bad credit has a value to some.