Food Giant Did Not Hire Illegal Staff

Tyson Foods, one of the world's largest chicken producers, was cleared yesterday of smuggling illegal immigrants from Latin America into the US to work in its plants. Three managers of the company were also cleared at the end of a trial in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The trial followed a five-year undercover investigation by federal authorities into the smuggling of illegal workers into the US to do jobs that Americans no longer wanted to do. Three Tyson employees had already pleaded guilty and been fired. One had committed suicide. The trial judge, Allan Edgar, had already dismissed 24 of the 36 charges.

Relatives of the accused sobbed as the verdict was announced after six hours of deliberations by the jury. The jury forewoman, Barbara Halley, said afterwards: "I was appalled the government didn't have more hard evidence than they had."

One of the defendants, Gerald Lankford, a former Tyson executive who could have faced 60 years in prison if convicted, said: "It's been a horrendous experience."

Defence lawyers said that the case should never have been brought.

The company, which employs 120,000 people, said that it had now stopped hiring temporary workers and had increased wages. Staff turnover had been around 75% annually.