Immigrant workers reach class action settlement over Tennessee meat packing plant raid
Casey McGowan | Vermont Law School, US
FEBRUARY 28, 2023 04:51:17 PM
A US federal judge Monday approved a settlement for over $1 million in a class action lawsuit that involved a 2018 immigration raid on a Tennessee meat packing plant that lead to the detainment of approximately 100 Latinx workers. Under the US District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee settlement, members of the class action will receive a total of $550,000—which divided among the members is over $5,700 each. The settlement states that “the United States of America will [pay] $475,000.00” to the six named plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs, represented by the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) and the Southern Poverty Law Center, argued that a 2018 immigration raid of the meat packing plant where they worked violated their civil rights and that the law enforcement agencies targeted the workers because of their ethnicity.
Following the announcement of the settlement, senior supervising attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center Meredith Stewart said, “Today, justice was served to the Latinx workers, and their community, who took a stand against federal agents targeting them because of their ethnicity.” The NILC described the settlement as a “hard-fought win.” In the NILC’s full statement, Deputy Legal Director Michelle Lapointe reacted to the settlement by saying:
https://www.jurist.org/news/2023/02/immigrant-workers-reach-class-action-settlement-over-tennessee-meat-packing-plant-raid/
