Court records show a Mississippi company that was the target of the largest U.S. workplace raid on
illegal immigrants has reached a tentative settlement agreement in a discrimination lawsuit by four black women who claimed the company gave preferential treatment to Latinos.

The lawsuit claimed that one of the plaintiffs, Charlyn Dozier, applied for a job at the Howard Industries electrical transformer plant in Laurel every three to six months beginning in 2002, but
wasn't offered a position until after the 2008 raid.

The other plaintiffs, Veronica Cook, Yolanda Phelps and Seleatha McGee, made similar allegations.

Immigration agents detained nearly 600 illegal immigrants during the raid at the sprawling plant. Most of them were deported, though a handful faced identity theft charges.

The company was fined $2.5 million in February 2011 after pleading guilty to conspiracy to
violate immigration laws.

A Feb. 9 filing in U.S. District Court in Jackson said a tentative deal has been reached and "the parties anticipate submitting an appropriate motion for settlement approval in the near future."

The filing made no mention of the terms of the
settlement, and such deals are often confidential in civil lawsuits.