Source: Chrs Scott, MEATINGPLACE, 2/25/19


Seven workers at a Tennessee beef slaughter plant raided by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents last year are suing the agency for alleged violations of their constitutional rights.

The National Immigration Law Center (NILC), the Southern Poverty Law Center and the law firm of Sherrard, Roe, Voigt & Harbison filed the class-action lawsuit on behalf of the workers, who were in a group of about 100 Latino employees detained in the April 2018 raid at Southeastern Provision. The suit alleges that ICE officers detained any worker who “looked Latino without regard to citizenship or documentation,” according to a news release from the NILC. The ICE activities represented violations of the workers’ Fourth and Seventh Amendment rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, the lawsuit contends.

The lawsuit filed in a U.S. District Court in Knoxville, Tenn., also alleges that ICE officers used excessive force during the raid, which ultimately ended with only 11 of the 100 employees being charged with any crimes. The suit claims that white workers at the plant were not arrested, detained or searched during the event, with many standing outside of the plant smoking.

An ICE spokesman declined to comment on the specific case when contacted by The Washington Post, but added that the absence of any comment “should in no way should be construed that ICE thinks a suit has any merit.”

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