Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials on Wednesday morning arrested nearly 300 people suspected of working in the U.S. illegally in what was reportedly the largest workplace raid of its kind since 2008.
280 suspected undocumented workers were arrested at CVE Technology Group in Allen, near Dallas, Texas, KERA News reported. The Department of Homeland Security conducted an investigation into CVE’s employee-tax forms after receiving allegations that the company, which repairs cellphones and other electronic devices, knew the IDs of the illegal immigrants they hired were fraudulent.
Laws against hiring illegal immigrants “ensure that illegal workers are not preyed upon or paid less than the going wage or otherwise coerced or cheated or subjected to unsafe working conditions without any means of complaint,” said Katrina Berger, the special agent in charge of ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations division in Dallas.
“All illegal aliens encountered will be fingerprinted and processed for removal from the United States,” ICE said, before adding that agents will interview the illegally employed workers to see if any of them have “humanitarian situations” such as medical conditions or children to support that might qualify them for temporary release.