newsobserver.com | Immigrants in raid may face prison

newsobserver.com | Immigrants in raid may face prison: "Immigrants in raid may face prison 25 accused of stealing IDs in order to work Kristin Collins, Staff Writer RALEIGH - Twenty-five immigrants who were arrested last week in a pork plant raid face federal identity theft charges and, if convicted, substantial prison time, prosecutors said Tuesday. The defendants -- who prosecutors say entered the country illegally and used stolen names and Social Security numbers to get jobs -- made their first appearance in federal court in Raleigh on Tuesday. Officials said there is no evidence the accused stole money or services using the identities, but the crime carries a prison term of between two and seven years, along with $250,000 in fines. They would likely be deported after serving their sentences, authorities said. The defendants -- 11 men and 14 women from Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala -- shuffled into court Tuesday wearing leg irons and jail jumpsuits. They listened through earpieces to a Spanish interpreter as Judge William A. Webb explained the charges and assigned them a public defender. All those in court Tuesday were current or former employees of Smithfield Foods' Bladen County factory, which is the world's largest pork slaughterhouse. They were taken in a raid that began last Wednesday before dawn."