Posted on August 12, 2019

‘Now Hiring’: Koch Foods Holding Job Fair After Mississippi ICE Raids

Harold Gater, Mississippi Clarion Ledger, August 9, 2019

Koch Foods announced on Facebook that the company will host a job fair on Monday after many of its workers at its two Mississippi plants were swept up in an immigration raid Wednesday.

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Officials said 680 people were initially detained during Wednesday’s operation but more than 300 of those people home by dawn Thursday, with notices to appear before immigration judges, said ICE spokesman Bryan Cox. It’s unlikely those people will be able to work in the coming months as they await hearings.

{snip} Applicants will be required to provide two forms of valid identification when applying, the announcement indicated.

Koch Foods {snip} has no relation to prominent conservative political donors and activists Charles and David Koch.

Although none of the people who may have been responsible for hiring the unauthorized workers have been charged, both ICE and the U.S. Attorney’s Office Southern District of Mississippi have said employers are part of their ongoing investigation.

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Koch Foods said in a statement Thursday that it screens employees through the federal government database E-Verify. Jim Gilliland, company spokesman, also said the company relies on temporary workers vetted through a third-party service.

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