Employers Of Illegal Aliens Whine, Go Ballistic as ICE Targets Their Work Sites

An ICE sweep through southwest Kansas has prompted complaints from a meatpacking union and cattle industry groups, but unauthorized workers have previously held jobs at a plant in the affected area. Court records describe three people who obtained work at National Beef’s Liberal facility without authorization. The plant delayed some shifts this week as agents operated around the region’s packing facilities. ICE says its officers are enforcing federal immigration law.

Agents began stopping and detaining people around Liberal, Dodge City, and Garden City on Tuesday, September 22nd. The three communities are home to four major beef plants employing more than 10,000 residents, according to the Kansas News Service. Local officials say they received no advance warning of the operation, and ICE hasn’t released an arrest count for the area. Reports of arrests inside the plants remained unconfirmed as of Thursday.

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 2 represents more than 2,500 employees at National Beef in Dodge City. Local president Martin Rosas said the union was gathering information and assisting members and their families. UFCW International President Milton Jones condemned ICE’s presence, saying its targeting of the communities “sows fear, instability, and chaos.” He said beef prices would rise if supply dropped, though the union didn’t quantify a supply change.

The objections followed a change at National Beef’s other Kansas facility. As KCUR reported, residents and officials described detentions across the region, while the number arrested remained unclear. The Kansas News Service obtained a message telling employees at National Beef in Liberal that some start times had changed or that they should check their schedules with supervisors. ICE told the outlet, “ICE officers are out every day enforcing federal immigration law passed by Congress.” The agency didn’t confirm whether or not the plants were targets.

Unauthorized employment at the Liberal plant has appeared in court records before. In a 2001 Kansas appeals decision, the court recounted that Juan Vargas admitted he lacked authorization to work in the United States. He said he had bought papers under another name to obtain a job at National Beef. The court upheld his acquittal on an identity-theft charge because prosecutors hadn’t proved the required intent to defraud. It made no finding that National Beef knew his status when it hired him.

A separate 2015 federal court order described two Guatemalan men who entered the country without authorization and obtained jobs at National Beef in Liberal using other people’s names and Social Security numbers. The court identified them as Carlos and Rolando Morales. Those facts arose in a tire-defect lawsuit, not a case against the meatpacker. The order said National Beef complied with federal hiring law and wouldn’t retain a worker it discovered was unauthorized.

A 2007 report also identified a man working under a false identity at National Beef in Liberal. At the time, a federal prosecutor said roughly half of Kansas immigration-related cases were associated with food processing. National Beef’s Dodge City general manager said the company used government verification tools and internal personnel audits. He told the reporter he didn’t believe ICE had the plant in its sights.

Cattle organizations issued their own complaint Thursday. The Kansas Livestock Association and two neighboring states’ groups reported delayed shipments involving thousands of cattle and millions of dollars in lost revenue and added costs. They also described workforce disruptions at feedyards, dairies, processors, and transportation hubs. The groups predicted higher beef prices and urged federal officials to communicate with employers.

White House border czar Tom Homan addressed the administration’s broader approach to workplaces in a September 2025 press briefing. Homan said the administration would increase worksite enforcement and that knowingly hiring an illegal alien is a crime. Those remarks preceded the current operation and did not identify any Kansas plant as a target. “They drive down wages and they put companies that hire US citizens out of business,” he said.

Featured image credit: usicegov, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons