How a Nebraska immigration raid tied to an identity theft investigation unfolded

In Nebraska, the state’s largest worksite immigration raid sent a chilling effect across the city of Omaha this month when federal immigration authorities arrested 76 employees of a meatpacking plant

In Nebraska, the state’s largest worksite immigration raid sent a chilling effect across the city of Omaha this month when federal immigration authorities arrested 76 employees of a meatpacking plant.

About a dozen of them have already been deported or transferred to out-of-state custody. Sixty-three others remain in immigration custody at the Lincoln County Detention Center in Nebraska.

Federal authorities accuse the workers of using stolen identities from U.S. citizens to unlawfully gain employment at Glenn Valley Foods, a meatpacking plant that has been processing boxed beef for more than 15 years.

The Center for Immigrant Refugee and Advancement, an immigrant rights organization in Omaha, provided legal consultations to most of them.

Anne Wurth, the group's associate legal director, told NBC News they are “honest, hardworking individuals in our community" who have also been victims of an immigration system that “does not provide enough pathways” to remain in the country legally.