CLARION, Iowa – Federal officials have filed a lawsuit alleging that Mexican women who worked as egg packers were raped by supervisors who threatened to have them fired or killed if they didn’t submit.

The lawsuit filed Monday by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission accuses three former DeCoster Farms supervisors of raping the women last year and this past March. At least one alleged rape occurred at knifepoint.

“We don’t know how widespread this is,” said Chester Bailey, director of the EEOC office in Milwaukee. “People are fearful of their lives and their families’ lives.”

The supervisors workers at four DeCoster Farms facilities near Clarion, 80 miles north of Des Moines. An attorney for the company, William Sidney Smith, said DeCoster had not known of the rape allegations until the lawsuit was filed.

He said two of the supervisors were fired after it was alleged they were taking money from people seeking jobs with DeCoster Farms. He said the third left earlier.

Smith said the company supported the prosecution of the men “if they in any way participated in or supported such conduct.”

About 200 people work at DeCoster egg farms and processing plants in the Clarion area, Smith said. Most are Hispanic and many are believed to be illegal immigrants. Federal agents raided DeCoster Farms and nearby Boomsma Farms last spring, arresting more than 90 illegal workers.

The number of women who made the allegations of rape and sexual harassment wasn’t specified. The Coalition Against Sexual Assault in Iowa City said some were so afraid that they sought refuge in domestic abuse shelters.

Bailey called it a terrifying situation.

“They’re vulnerable if they’re illegal, they don’t speak the language very well, they don’t have an avenue [to complain],” he said. “The rape is terrifying, but where do they go?

“In one case, the woman was so ashamed, she didn’t tell her family. She took her clothes and just threw them away,” he said.

Wright County Sheriff Paul Schultz said it was the first time he had heard of the allegations. He said the top concern was determining whether there was criminal activity, not residency status.

“We don’t turn a blind eye to someone, anyone, if they are here illegally,” he said.