KNOXVILLE, TENN. — Four years after a raid at a Southeastern Provisions LLC facility in Bean Station, Tenn., a settlement of over $1 million has been reached.

In the proposed agreement, the seven Latino workers who originally filed the lawsuit will receive a total of $475,000 from the US government. Other class members who file a claim will receive an equal portion out of $550,000. The court document estimates $5,000 to $6,000 each for the near 100 class members.

The legal counsel representing the Latino workers at Southeastern Provision, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the National Immigration Law Center, will receive at most $150,000.

The settlement awaits the approval of Judge Travis McDonough.

The raid in April 2018 involved US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) allegedly violating the Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights of over 100 Latino workers working at the facility.

“ICE agents detained every worker who looked Latino in the plant without regard to citizenship or documentation, a clear violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fifth Amendment,” the lawsuit said in 2019. “Many workers weren’t even asked about documentation until hours into the raid. By then, many had already been traumatized, handcuffed, and denied communication with attorneys or family members — or access to sanitary facilities or critical medication — and taken to a holding facility.”

In July 2020, former employees of Southeastern Provisions received $610,000 in back pay and damages, according to a consent order filed in federal court.