Posted on 11/30/2005 8:31:29 PM PST by NormsRevenge
SAN DIEGO (AP) - Immigration authorities raided the offices of a Southern California fencing company Wednesday, seizing boxes of documents and arresting 17 employees who are believed to be in the United States illegally.
Golden State Fence Co. had rehired some of the 17 employees who were arrested despite previous warnings by federal authorities that they were ineligible to work, officials with the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau said in a press release.
Authorities searched company offices in Riverside, where the company is based, and in Oceanside, about 35 miles north of San Diego. All 17 employees arrested were Mexican nationals.
Calls to Golden State offices after business hours Wednesday were not immediately returned.
Immigration authorities have audited Golden State's employment records twice before, said Homeland Security spokeswoman Lauren Mack. Last year's audit found 48 employees were in the country illegally. An audit in 1999 found 15 illegal immigrants.
An immigration sweep last year resulted in the arrests of some Golden State employees who were working at Naval Air Station North Island in Coronado. Mack said she didn't know if the company continues to work on military bases.
After last year's audit, Homeland Security launched a criminal investigation, which remains open. Mack said the department will refer the case to federal prosecutors for possible criminal charges.
The company is probably going to have to pay some enormous fine - like $200. That'll show 'em!
I have recommended this firm to Homeland Security. What better company to erect a double fence barrier across our southern border??? Just doing the jobs Americans won't do.
It's OK, they were working on the border fence.
I drive by their operation several times a week and see their trucks on the road almost daily.
After being audited and warned 2 times before I hope they fine them the maximum and give the owners prison time!
Boy someone is in trouble, didn't they get the word to leave employers alone, El Presidente wants more cheap labor to do the jobs Americans won't do for slave wages. Hope they don't get transferred to Guam checking Japanese tourists visas...
[San Diego Union-Tribune 9/22/04; Los Angeles Times 9/22/04]
*1. SAN DIEGO: 27 SEIZED IN RAIDS
On Sept. 21, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents raided the homes of 14 immigrants employed by Golden State Fence Co., a fence-building contractor based in Oceanside, California, which does business on North Island Naval Air Station in Coronado, near San Diego. The arrested employees--13 Mexicans and one Guatemalan--had worked for Golden State on other jobs, not at the naval base. Some were longtime employees of the company; authorities said they had used fraudulent Social Security numbers and counterfeit visa documents to gain employment. Agents also arrested 13 relatives and other immigrants who were at the raided homes. Four of the 27 people arrested were legal residents with criminal records; the rest were out of status. Authorities are searching for another 30 immigrants who worked for Golden State.
The latest raids followed a four-month audit into the hiring records of more than 250 contractors doing business at the Coronado naval station. ICE officials said Golden State cooperated with the investigation and provided employees' addresses; the company will not face civil or criminal penalties. ICE has apprehended 156 people in San Diego since last Oct. 1 as part of what it calls "Operation Safe Cities," which purports to protect sensitive businesses from security breaches. ICE has requested $23 million in budget enhancements for worksite enforcement in 2005.
ping
It should be made a felony for Criminals who overstay their legal visas and Invaders.
I believe we should give amnesty to these poor CRIMINALS or INVADERS.
This should be a 2 week amnesty to get the heck out of our Country.
The ones who ignore this amnesty should be buried in a tent city jail and fined $10,000 or buried elsewhere.
All aiders and abettors of these CRIMINALS or INVADERS should get 1 year in a tent city jail and a $10,000 fine for each CRIMINAL aided.
Those in government should be the first ones charged.
But, but, but, they didn't have the same names. They switched with each other. How was Gold Mistake supposed to know the illegal aliens were illegal? < / s >
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If ICE knew those folks were illegal and ineligible to work, why had they not been deported after their first arrest which I think was more than a year ago?
..why had they not been deported after their first arrest which I think was more than a year ago?
Catch and Release was the order of the day.
Protect our borders and coastlines from all foreign invaders!
Support our Minutemen Patriots!
Be Ever Vigilant ~ Bump!
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