Meat-plant workers appear for hearings

Thirteen of the 15 people indicted this week in connection with an immigration raid of a meat-packing plant in Hyrum made first appearances in federal court Thursday.

In a string of hearings that spanned most of the day, federal magistrates struggled with issues of whether those indicted, many of them on immigration hold, would be released due to concerns of care of their children. Two other people who were indicted remain on release pending hearings.

The 13 defendants all pleaded not guilty to the charges, and trials have been scheduled for February.

The charges against the 15 defendants include identity theft, false use of a Social Security number, sale of citizenship papers and illegal use of documents for employment.

The 15 charged are among 145 people arrested in last Tuesday's raid at the Swift & Co. meat-packing plant. The raid was part of an overall immigration crackdown on Swift plants in Utah, Texas, Colorado, Nebraska, Minnesota and Iowa that led to the arrest of about 1,282 people.

In addition, Eleuterio Gutierrez and Veronica Carrillo were charged last week with dealing citizenship papers to Swift-plant employees. Carrillo pleaded not guilty in federal court Thursday. Gutierrez remains at large.