House of Raeford Farms will pay $1.5 million in fines and will also change its hiring practices as part of a settlement allowing the company to avoid federal immigration charges.
The two indicted managers at the company's plant in Greenville, S.C., will also avoid prosecution by entering a probation program.
Federal prosecutors and company representatives made the deal final hours before the trial was scheduled to begin.
The subsidiary in question, Columbia Farms, was raided in 2008 and charged with knowingly hiring illegal immigrants.
The government will drop the charges provided the company improves hiring practices and complies with federal monitoring at its plants
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