DALLAS -- Federal immigration agents raided Pilgrim's Pride poultry plants in West Virginia and four other states Wednesday in a crackdown on an alleged scam to provide fake identification for illegal immigrant workers, authorities said.

More than 100 people were expected to be charged in the raids at the nation's largest poultry producer, Julie Myers, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement assistant secretary, told The Associated Press.

"Identity theft is a horrible problem that can ruin a person's good name,'' Myers said.

The raids were part of a long-term investigation, officials said. Plants in Moorefield, W.Va., Mount Pleasant, Texas, Batesville, Ark., Live Oak, Fla., and Chattanooga, Tenn. were raided, authorities said.

Ray Atkinson, a spokesman for Pittsburg, Texas-based Pilgrim's Pride, said the company went to ICE agents with information about identity theft at the Arkansas plant. Atkinson said the company uses a federal database to check identity documents of new employees, but that wouldn't stop a person from using a real, but stolen ID.

Atkinson said no criminal or civil charges have been filed against the company, which has about 55,000 employees and operates dozens of facilities mostly across the South and in Mexico and Puerto Rico.

"We knew in advance and cooperated fully,'' Atkinson said.

Atkinson said he didn't know the specifics about the enforcement action at the company's two plants in West Virginia. Pilgrim's pride operates a processing and a prepared food plant in Moorefield. Both plants employ about 2,250 people, he said.

The poultry raids were the largest of several immigration enforcement actions taken across the country Wednesday.

Agents arrived before dawn at a Houston doughnut plant and arrested almost 30 workers suspected of being in the country illegally. Robert Rutt, the agent in charge of the Houston ICE office, told the Houston Chronicle some of the people arrested lived at the Shipley Do-Nuts dough factory.

Federal officials in Buffalo, N.Y., said raids Wednesday in western New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Georgia targeted illegal immigrants working at Mexican restaurants. No other information was immediately available, and it was unclear how many people had been detained.

DALLAS -- Federal immigration agents raided Pilgrim's Pride poultry plants in West Virginia and four other states Wednesday in a crackdown on an alleged scam to provide fake identification for illegal immigrant workers, authorities said.

More than 100 people were expected to be charged in the raids at the nation's largest poultry producer, Julie Myers, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement assistant secretary, told The Associated Press.

"Identity theft is a horrible problem that can ruin a person's good name,'' Myers said.

The raids were part of a long-term investigation, officials said. Plants in Moorefield, W.Va., Mount Pleasant, Texas, Batesville, Ark., Live Oak, Fla., and Chattanooga, Tenn. were raided, authorities said.

Ray Atkinson, a spokesman for Pittsburg, Texas-based Pilgrim's Pride, said the company went to ICE agents with information about identity theft at the Arkansas plant. Atkinson said the company uses a federal database to check identity documents of new employees, but that wouldn't stop a person from using a real, but stolen ID.

Atkinson said no criminal or civil charges have been filed against the company, which has about 55,000 employees and operates dozens of facilities mostly across the South and in Mexico and Puerto Rico.

"We knew in advance and cooperated fully,'' Atkinson said.

Atkinson said he didn't know the specifics about the enforcement action at the company's two plants in West Virginia. Pilgrim's pride operates a processing and a prepared food plant in Moorefield. Both plants employ about 2,250 people, he said.

The poultry raids were the largest of several immigration enforcement actions taken across the country Wednesday.

Agents arrived before dawn at a Houston doughnut plant and arrested almost 30 workers suspected of being in the country illegally. Robert Rutt, the agent in charge of the Houston ICE office, told the Houston Chronicle some of the people arrested lived at the Shipley Do-Nuts dough factory.

Federal officials in Buffalo, N.Y., said raids Wednesday in western New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Georgia targeted illegal immigrants working at Mexican restaurants. No other information was immediately available, and it was unclear how many people had been detained.