May 29 (Reuters) - A group founded by former Trump

administration officials accused Tyson Foods ( TSN ) on

Wednesday of discriminating against U.S. citizens by

disproportionately hiring immigrants, including children and

people in the country illegally.

America First Legal (AFL) sent letters to the U.S.

Department of Justice, the Equal Employment Opportunity

Commission, and an Iowa civil rights agency calling for

investigations into the Arkansas-based meatpacker's employment

practices.

The letters say that Tyson employs 42,000 foreign workers,

making up more than one-third of its U.S. workforce, and is

involved in programs to recruit more.

More than half of all meatpacking workers in the U.S. are

immigrants, compared with about 17% of the entire U.S.

workforce, according to the Center for Economic and Policy

Research, a think tank.

AFL said Tyson has taken advantage of a sharp increase in

illegal border crossings that peaked last year in order to build

a pool of cheap labor.

The group is headed by Stephen Miller, who was a senior

adviser to Republican former President Donald Trump known for

his hardline stance on immigration. Ex-Trump chief of staff Mark

Meadows and former Acting U.S. Attorney General Matthew Whitaker

are board members, and some of the group's staff lawyers worked

at the Trump-era Justice Department.

AFL noted that a major food sanitation company that

contracts with Tyson and other meat processors recently paid

$1.5 million in penalties for employing teenagers in dangerous

jobs. Some of those children worked at Tyson plants, though the

company was not accused of wrongdoing.

AFL accused Tyson of violating federal and Iowa laws barring

employers from discriminating based on citizenship status, race,

national origin and other traits.

Tyson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In March, the company denied claims circulating on social media

that it planned to replace laid-off workers at an Iowa plant

with foreign labor, saying: "Any insinuation that we would cut

American jobs to hire immigrant workers is completely false."

The Justice Department, the EEOC and the Iowa agency are not

obligated to respond to the complaints or investigate them. If

they conduct probes and find merit to the claims, they could

attempt to broker a settlement with Tyson or sue the company.

AFL has filed more than 30 complaints, mostly with the EEOC,

accusing major U.S. companies of adopting diversity policies

that discriminate against men or white, Asian and heterosexual

workers. But the complaint against Tyson appears to be the first

by the group to involve claims of bias against American workers.

The commission has not said whether it is investigating any

of the complaints.