ICE raid ships many workers out of Salem meat processing plant

SALEM

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's raid is continuing tonight at the Fresh Mark meat processing plant at 1735 S. Lincoln Ave.

There were three large buses outside of the facility and one departed with 40 to 50 people inside, as others waited for more people lined up inside the facility.

A Vindicator reporter was told by people gathered outside and watching the events that everyone was being taken away -- even workers with proper documentation and permits for work.

The people are from Guatemala, Puerto Rico and Mexico and had come here to work, not to cause problems, one woman waiting outside the plant said.

In February, ICE charged Miguel Lorenzo, a Guatemalan man who worked at the Salem Fresh Mark, with false claim to U.S. citizenship and aggravated identity theft.

A Fresh Mark employee told ICE agents that Lorenzo worked for the company under the name Omar Diaz, with a Social Security card and California identification corresponding to that name.

Read MORE in Wednesday's VINDICATOR.