ICE agents conducted the largest raid in ten years

Federal immigration officials made a new raid on a large meat supplier located in Massillon, Ohio, and arrested more than 100 workers suspected of using stolen or fraudulent identity to get a job.

Photo: twitter / ICE @ICEgov

ICE 100 agents raided four sites Fresh Mark. Authorities said they were able to make 146 arrests during a raid, which according to ICE, made it the largest raid in ten years.

The check took place without notice. Agents arrived with criminal and federal search warrants to collect documents from more than 200 employees. Warrants were handed on objects Fresh mark in Salem, Massillon and Canton, Ohio.

ICE officials said that the number of arrested workers is likely to increase after the operation is completed. Officials said that some of the arrested workers may face federal accusations of identity theft and / or return after deportation.

All workers who were arrested during the raid on Tuesday worked at a meat processing plant in Salem, Francis said. According to him, most of the workers are from Guatemala.

The company's website states that they have more than 1000 employees.

Francis said the raid was the result of more than one year of investigation. Fresh mark and his employees, and also knowing whether the company hired and sheltered unregistered workers. He declined to provide further details.

Company Fresh mark stated that she participates in the federal program to ensure proper documentation of employees. As part of this program, the company stated that it participates in the program E-verify The Department of Homeland Security annually conducts an internal audit of its I-9 forms.

Family owned company selling meat products such as bacon, ham and sausages under brands Sugardale, Sugardale Food Service and brand Superior for restaurants, grocery stores, grocers and stadiums throughout the country.

Francis said that some of the arrested workers would be sent to detention centers in Michigan and Ohio, while others could be deported immediately.

Photo: twitter / CBP RGV @ CBPRGV

ICE said that the detainees will be waiting for a trial. Other workers may be released for humanitarian reasons, say, if they are the parents of a small child for whom there is no proper care, Francis said. In these cases, they will be given a notice of attendance at the immigration court.

This year, ICE arrested more than 600 workers who, according to her, are working without proper permission. According to ICE, this number far exceeds the 172 arrest committed in 2017 year.

The I-9 form is completed when employees are hired. It shows that the employee has the right to work in the country. Back in January, as rumors of ICE inspections spread, a new state law entered into force in California banning employers from allowing ICE agents to their facilities without a warrant. In addition, companies must notify employees of receipt of a notice of inspection within 72 hours.

Failure to comply with state law may result in a $ 10 000 fine.

The latest series of checks by ICE agents is a continuing confrontation between the Trump administration, which has pledged to seriously tackle illegal immigration, and California, which in October declared itself a refuge for immigrants.

After Governor Jerry Brown signed the Asylum Status Bill, current ICE director Thomas Homan warned that California "must hold on."

However, audits are not new here. According to ICE statistics, inspections peaked in 2013, under President Obama, and more than 3100 such inspections were conducted in this fiscal year. Then the Obama administration switched to the deportation of those convicted of serious crimes. In the 2017 fiscal year, ICE stated that it had performed 1360 checks in the United States.

Inspections can lead to fines and even criminal proceedings if it is proved that employers knowingly violated the law, ICE representatives said.

For many years, federal law did not prohibit the illegal use of labor. That changed in 1986, when President Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act, called IRCA. He first established fines for illegally hiring people in the country. The IRCA imposed relatively low fines, and the law states that in order to be convicted, employers had to "consciously hire" a person who was in the country without documents. This was a relief for employers who could provide fake documents, claiming they did not know. This was the obstacle to the prosecution of employers.

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