010415 Kosher Plant Presses on Despite INSApril 8, 2001Mifflintown, PA - Empire Kosher Poultry Inc. employs scores of rabbis to ensure that its products comply with Jewish law, but the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service says the company is not so meticulous in its hiring practices. Acting on a tip, federal and state agents swarmed into the Empire plant to haul away 135 workers who the INS says are working in the United States illegally. It was one of the biggest immigration raids in Pennsylvania history. As the plant continued production Thursday, Empire president and chief executive Michael Strear defended the company's hiring practices. Strear said a review is in progress, adding that any problems would be resolved ``quickly, thoroughly and fairly.'' He also said the company is ``fully cooperating'' with INS investigators. The immigrants were from Mexico, El Salvador, Colombia, Chile, Honduras, Indonesia, Africa and Malaysia, authorities said. After processing by the INS on Tuesday, most of the detainees were released. They will face hearings this summer. ``I've got to look for another job now,'' said Nelson Renderos, 30, a Salvadoran who was among the detained workers and who admitted that he had used phony work papers to get his job at Empire. ``I'm illegal here, but we all need work.'' Renderos said he had worked for four years at the plant, where production workers are paid $8.50 to $9 an hour. Renderos' family remains behind in El Salvador, and he said he has tried to send $100 to $200 a month to his mother. Empire, the nation's largest kosher poultry processor, has operated a plant in this rural central Pennsylvania community since it moved from New York state in the 1960s. The company employs 1,200 people.
E-mail: sflanagan@sprintmail.com |
