People who support high levels of low-skilled immigration often claim that immigrants do work that native-born residents won’t. The facts surrounding the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids of seven Mississippi chicken processing plants show how untrue that claim is.

Documents released Thursday suggest that the operators of those plants knowingly hired undocumented immigrants for years in violation of federal law. They show that many of the workers wore ankle bracelets provided by ICE to monitor their location while others used multiple names and provided different Social Security numbers when applying to work at the same plant. If true, the only logical conclusion can be the operators wanted to hire people whose illegal status meant they wouldn’t push for higher wages or make trouble.

Neither the companies that operate the plants nor any of their executives have yet been charged with violating immigration law, The Post reports. Peco Foods said it is cooperating with investigators, while Koch Foods denied knowingly employing people with false documentation to work. The other plants, PH Food, A&B and Pearl River Foods, did not respond or declined to comment to Post reporters.