GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) - Seven workers at a Greenville poultry
plant have pleaded not guilty to using fake Social Security numbers
and counterfeit documents to break immigration laws.
The House of Raeford Farms workers were arraigned in federal
court Thursday.
Prosecutors said the seven were among a group of employees who
tried to skirt immigration laws by using invalid alien registration
and Social Security numbers, or listed other individuals' numbers
as their own.
Bail was denied after authorities said the workers were in the
U.S. illegally. The company didn't immediately return a phone
message for comment.
The investigation came after The Charlotte Observer reported in
February that 42 of 52 current and former Latino workers it talked
with said they were in the U.S. illegally.