SPRINGFIELD -- Federal prosecutors filed immigration violation charges against 11 more employees of a chicken processing plant this week.  Investigators say law officers previously arrested each of the 11 for being in the United States illegally, and judges had ordered them to leave or be deported.

   The charges follow a raid at George’s Processing near Butterfield, Mo., on May 22.  This is the third set of charges to follow the raid, which prosecutors said followed a months-long investigation. The U.S. District Attorney announced the previous charges on May 23 and May 25.

   The charges in U.S. District Court in Springfield are against German Puentes-Mendoza, 25; Elziar Oswaldo Vasquez-Estrada, 19; Gabriel Lopez-Alvarado, 38; Carmen De Leon-Guzman, 28; Luis Geyman Fernando-Diaz, 33; Bernabe Lopez-Alcon, 35; Delfino Lopez-Gomez, 33; and Henry Anibal Oxlaj-Ixmay, 23, all citizens of Guatamala; and Armando Valdez-Ayala, 26; Oliver Sosa-Martinez, 23; and Maria Hinojosa-Pedroza, 25, all citizens of Mexico.

      Puentes-Mendoza, Vasquez-Estrada, Lopez-Alvarado and De Leon-Guzman are each charged with falsely claiming to be citizens of the United States in order to gain employment.  Prosecutors say a judge had ordered Puentes-Mendoza to be removed from the United States but, after being denied an appeal on July 22, 2004, he failed to appear for removal as ordered.  Prosecutors say a judge ordered Vasquez-Estrada and De Leon-Guzman to be removed from the United States in absentia (Vasquez-Estrada on April 4, 2006, and De Leon-Guzman on Aug. 3, 2000) but failed to depart as ordered.  Prosecutors say a judge gave Lopez-Alvarado until April 13, 2005, to voluntary leave the United States, with an alternate order of deportation should he fail to depart as required.

   The other seven people are charged with reentering the United States after being deported.  Prosecutors say Fernando-Diaz was deported on June 24, 2005; Lopez-Alcon was deported on Oct. 28, 2005; Lopez-Gomez was deported on Feb. 3, 2005; Oxlaj-Ixmay was deported on Jan. 4, 2007; Valdez-Ayala was deported on Dec. 3 and 31, 2004; Sosa-Martinez was deported on May 27 and June 3, 2005, and on April 7, 2006; and Hinojosa-Pedroza was deported on Nov. 29, 2000.

   The charges follow investigations by several law enforcement agencies, including the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Social Security Administration, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.