Lawsuit: Immigration raid at Iowa meatpacking plant violated workers' rights

DES MOINES, Iowa: The largest single immigration raid in the U.S., resulting in nearly 400 arrests earlier this week, violated the constitutional rights of workers at an Iowa meatpacking plant, a lawsuit filed in federal court says.

The lawsuit accuses the government of arbitrary and indefinite detention. It seeks to prevent the government from moving the arrested workers out-of-state as their cases wend through the system.

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office said he couldn't comment on the lawsuit filed Thursday on behalf of about 147 of the workers rounded up Monday at an Agriprocessors Inc. meat processing plant.

The lawsuit was filed against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Division and several government officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

Most of the arrested workers were held in local jails. The lawsuit notes that other raids have seen detainees transferred for detention far from their attorneys, making it difficult to work on their cases.

An attorney who interviewed detainees learned that Agriprocessors obtained false identification for immigrant workers, improperly withheld money from employees' paychecks for "immigration fees," did not allow workers to use the restroom during 10-hour shifts, physically abused workers and did not compensate them for overtime work, according to the lawsuit.

As victims of alleged crimes, the workers would be eligible for certain visas that would let them gain legal status, the lawsuit said. Some of the arrested workers have spouses and children who are U.S. citizens and could be eligible for immigration relief because of their family ties, according to the suit.

The suit noted that a number of immigrant workers' children have been stranded with baby sitters and other caretakers as a result of the raid.

Telephone messages left for lawyers who filed the lawsuit were not immediately returned.

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