Source:  Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 3/15/11

A federal judge ruled Friday government agencies did not violate civil rights during an immigration raid in 2006 involving meatpacking plants then owned by Swift & Co., according to documents  filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

The United Food and Commercial Workers International and eight individual union members sued the federal government in 2007 alleging civil rights violations during the Dec. 12, 2006, raids.

The suit claimed government officials were "intentional, malicious and reckless and showed a callous disregard of or indifference to" the rights of workers arrested during the raids. Washington denied wrongdoing.

The raids were part of a nationwide operation by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau to crack down on illegal immigrants using stolen identities of U.S. citizens to get work. The operation netted more than 1,100 workers.

Swift & Co. and its facilities were acquired by JBS in the summer of 2007.

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