Immigration busts put employers in cross hairs

“Allen Petrie, the owner of Star Packaging, said he had to hire Mexican immigrants because no U.S.-born worker wanted to take items off assembly lines and place them in cardboard boxes.

Now that reliance on immigrant labor threatens to put one of this small towns most prominent businessmen in prison.

Petrie is charged with conspiring to commit identity theft, a felony, after local police took the unusual step of investigating illegal hiring. Police said much of his workforce allegedly used phony Social Security numbers to get their jobs. He has pleaded not guilty.”

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