Get PolitiFact in your inbox.
![A box of chicken drumsticks awaits transportation to the freezers of the Mississippi Food Network in Jackson, Miss., on June 21, 2012. (AP)](https://static.politifact.com/CACHE/images/politifact/photos/TysonFoods/a25f19294065c72026ae2e89aca0d989.jpeg)
![A box of chicken drumsticks awaits transportation to the freezers of the Mississippi Food Network in Jackson, Miss., on June 21, 2012. (AP)](https://static.politifact.com/CACHE/images/politifact/photos/TysonFoods/656ed0ef47d4b413863f7e8f606b7b65.jpeg)
A box of chicken drumsticks awaits transportation to the freezers of the Mississippi Food Network in Jackson, Miss., on June 21, 2012. (AP)
No, Tyson Foods didn’t announce it would hire 52,000 migrants
If Your Time is short
-
Bloomberg News reported that Tyson Foods plans to hire about 52,000 people this year at about $16.50 an hour. The company did not specify that those new hires would be migrants.
-
A Tyson Foods spokesperson said the company did not make an announcement to hire 52,000 migrants.
-
Learn more about PolitiFact’s fact-checking process and rating system.
Some people are boycotting Tyson Foods because of misinformation about the company's hiring practices.
Social media users shared a Fox Business clip with the headline, "Tyson Foods lays off 1,200+ American workers in Iowa as it plans to hire 52,000 migrants."
In the clip, taken from "The Bottom Line," co-host Sean Duffy, a former Republican representative from Wisconsin, said, "Tyson laying off 1,200 workers after closing its pork factory in Perry, Iowa, only later to announce 52,000 jobs for migrants." Co-host Dagan McDowell then partially quoted a Tyson Foods human resources executive as saying the migrants have been "very loyal. They’ve been uprooted and what they want is stability — what they want is a sense of belonging."
This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
The full Fox Business segment aired March 16. The Tyson Foods human resources manager’s partial quote came from a March 11 Bloomberg News article titled, "Tyson is hiring New York immigrants for jobs no one else wants." Fox Business did not immediately respond to our request for comment.
Bloomberg News reported that Tyson "plans to hire about 52,000 people" this year at $16.50 an hour, without specifying who would fill those roles.
Featured Fact-check
A Tyson Foods spokesperson said the company did not make an announcement to hire 52,000 migrants and does not have 52,000 jobs available, calling the figure an "inaccurate representation of job openings at Tyson Foods." "Nor do we earmark any available jobs for any one group of people," the spokesperson said in an email. Anyone who is qualified and legally authorized to work in the U.S. can apply for their jobs, the company said.
The Bloomberg News article also said that Tyson is partnering with Tent, an organization that helps businesses hire refugees. Refugees are people who had to leave their country because of persecution based on their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a specific social group, according to U.S. law. Refugees are in the country legally. They apply for the refugee program before arriving in the United States and must pass biometric and biographical checks as well as interviews with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Tent says it is partnering with more than 400 global companies to help integrate refugees. Tyson Foods has partnered with Tent since 2022, when it made a three-year commitment to hire 2,500 refugees in the U.S., according to information on Tent’s website.
But this year was the first time Tyson Foods participated in a Tent hiring event, a Tyson Foods spokesperson said.
"Any insinuation that we would cut American jobs to hire immigrant workers is completely false," Tyson Foods said in an undated statement published on its website. "Today, Tyson Foods employs 120,000 team members in the United States, all of whom are required to be legally authorized to work in this country."
Scripps News, a broadcast news network, on March 13 retracted a story headlined "Tyson Foods wants to hire 52,000 asylum seekers for factory jobs" because it contained "serious factual inaccuracies," and Scripps was "unable to verify that number."
We rate the claim that Tyson Foods announced it would hire 52,000 migrants False.
Our Sources
Instagram post (archived), March 17, 2024
Bloomberg, Tyson Is Hiring New York Immigrants for Jobs No One Else Wants, March 11, 2024
Tent, Home page, accessed March 19, 2024
Email and phone interview, Tyson Foods spokesperson, March 19 and 21, 2024
Tent, Tyson, accessed March 19, 2024
Tyson Foods, Immigration, accessed March 19, 2024
Scripps News, Scripps News retraction regarding Tyson Foods, March 13, 2024
YouTube, Tyson Foods to hire 52,000 migrants after massive layoffs in Iowa, March 16, 2024
Office of the Law Revision Counsel United States Code, 8 USC 1101: Definitions, accessed March 21, 2024
PolitiFact, Foxx gives inaccurate explanation of U.S. asylum process, July 27, 2023
Browse the Truth-O-Meter
More by Sofia Ahmed
No, Tyson Foods didn’t announce it would hire 52,000 migrants
Support independent fact-checking.
Become a member!
In a world of wild talk and fake news, help us stand up for the facts.