Outside the Beltway

MREs Made by Illegal Aliens

James Joyner · Friday, October 28, 2005 · 1 comment

The largest manufacturer of military Meals Ready to Eat (MREs) has been punished for hiring illegal aliens and falsifying documents.

Texas Co. Hired Illegals to Make MREs (AP)

A Texas employment agency was sentenced to five years of probation for hiring illegal immigrants to work at the nation’s top producer of military battlefield rations, federal prosecutors said Thursday. The Tollin Group was also fined $20,000 and ordered to pay $414,000 in civil penalties Wednesday. It has been barred from Department of Defense contracts for three years. The San Antonio-based company, which does business as Remedy Intelligent Staffing, pleaded guilty in January to hiring illegal immigrants and trying to cover it up by falsifying employment eligibility forms. The workers were hired for Wornick Co., which makes MREs — or “meals ready-to-eat.”

The investigation was initiated in February 2003 after an al-Qaida operative was arrested with information pointing to McAllen and Wornick as terrorist targets. Wornick had been awarded a $47 million contract to produce more than 1.1 million MREs for U.S. forces in Iraq. The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force ran background checks on Wornick employees and found hundreds of temporary employees with fraudulent documentation. No direct link to terrorism was found.

I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising that a Texas company hired illegal aliens, given the ready supply. Still, one would think there would be more scrutiny at a firm that makes MREs, given the obvious damage that could be done in such a facility.