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Forty undocumented workers working at a construction site were arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) special agents on November 14, 2006, announced ICE. Created in March 2003, ICE is the largest investigative branch of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The agency was created after 9/11, by combining the law enforcement arms of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and the former US Customs Service, to more effectively enforce US immigration and customs laws.
The undocumented workers, all men, were employed by various sub-contracting companies working at an Ocean Towers construction site located on 3 Ocean Crest Drive, Palm Coast, Florida. Three of those arrested re-entered the country after being deported. Re-entry after deportation is a prosecutable felony offense that carries a possible 25-year prison sentence. All three cases have been accepted by the US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Florida. The three men are in US Marshals custody awaiting the outcome of their criminal cases. The remaining 37 men were placed in removal proceedings for being in violation of US immigration laws. All were transferred to various ICE facilities in Florida. Those arrested represent the following countries: Honduras, Brazil, El Salvador, Mexico and Peru.
"Companies that use cheap, illegal alien labor as a business model should be on notice," said Robert W. Weber, special agent-in-charge in Tampa, Florida. "ICE is dramatically enhancing its enforcement efforts against illegal employment schemes." This enforcement action was part of the Secure Border Initiative (SBI), a comprehensive multi-year plan launched by DHS to secure America's borders and reduce illegal migration. Under SBI, DHS seeks to gain operational control of both the northern and southern borders, while re-engineering the detention and removal system to ensure that illegal aliens are removed from the country quickly and efficiently. SBI also involves strong interior enforcement efforts, including enhanced worksite enforcement investigations and intensified efforts to track down and remove undocumented workers inside the country.
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