Tyson Foods, Immigration Officials Partner
by January 19, 2011 7:00 pm 113 views
Springdale-based Tyson Foods, Inc. is the first major food company to become a full member of the IMAGE program with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), company and government officials announced today.
IMAGE is short for ‘ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers.’ The program enables businesses – if they meet rigorous standards – to voluntarily partner with the federal government to ensure they are employing people who are legally authorized to work in the U.S.
Tyson Foods, and other food processors who employ large numbers of Hispanic workers, are often cited as employers of illegal aliens.
"We believe our participation confirms to our customers, plant communities and others that Tyson uses best hiring practices to maintain a lawful workforce. We also believe this partnership will enhance our ability to collaborate with government officials on immigration-related matters," said Tyson SVP and Chief Human Resources Officer Ken Kimbro.
"ICE’s collaboration with Tyson Foods illustrates this administration’s commitment to working with industry to encourage a culture of compliance with U.S. employment laws," said ICE Director John Morton.
"Tyson Foods is setting the gold standard for Fortune 500 companies everywhere, and ICE is proud to be partnering with the company in this significant effort to protect our nation’s lawful workforce," Morton added.
Tyson employs almost 100,000 people at locations throughout the U.S.
To become certified, Tyson Foods made all of its Form I-9 employment eligibility documents available for ICE review, cooperated with government field audits of selected plant locations and also allowed ICE to check the Social Security numbers of all company employees.
Since 1998, Tyson has voluntarily participated in the online government employment verification program currently known as E-Verify. The company also voluntarily uses the ‘Social Security Number Verification System,’ an online service that allows employers to verify the names and Social Security numbers of employees against Social Security Administration records.