Des Moines, Iowa Swift & Co., one of the nation's largest meatpacking processors, is recovering from huge job vacancies and financial losses after being hit by immigration raids in Minnesota and other states.
The privately held company, which was targeted by a wide-scale immigration raid Dec. 12 in Iowa, Minnesota and four other states, is filling positions made vacant by the raids, spokesman Sean McHugh said.
Swift lost 1,282 employees, or about 10 percent of its work force, after the raids.
The company hasn't changed hiring practices since the raids. The government still checks for discrepancies in Social Security numbers, as part of a pilot program to identify illegal immigrants, McHugh said.
But the system fails to allow the company to further question an individual's status because it could accused of discrimination, he said.
The company's pork processing plants are at normal production levels, company officials said.
Beef plants are at 70 percent of capacity, but should rebound by May after new hires are done training, McHugh said.
He said Swift lost about $30 million after the raids.
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