TYSON FOODS ENTERS NOT GUILTY PLEA IN SMUGGLING CASE

Tyson Foods, Inc., the largest poultry producer in the US, has entered pleas of not guilty to charges that it conspired to smuggle undocumented Mexican workers into the US. 

Tyson and six managers were indicted last month after a three-year investigation by the Department of Justice.  According to the government, the company sought to employ undocumented workers as a cost saving measure.  Tyson is also charged with cultivating a corporate culture in which such actions were encouraged.  According to Tyson, there was no company-wide conspiracy.  The company also says that the charges against it are the result of an undercover government operation in which the government provided 50 undocumented workers for employment.

Tyson stresses that all employees were paid more than the minimum wage and provided benefits including health insurance.  It also points out that the charges filed against it in court do not match the government’s initial description of the case.  Only 15 people are named as unlawfully employed, and only five Tyson plants are involved, not the 15 initially claimed. 

Tyson also released two letters it received from the Department of Justice.  The letters criticize Tyson for the way it determined whether a person was authorized to work.  A company spokesperson says the letters refute the government’s claim that there was a corporate culture that condoned the employment of undocumented workers.