Comments at the source link.
~~~

28 taken into custody in Bellingham ICE raid

12:54 PM PST on Tuesday, February 24, 2009

By KING5.com Staff

BELLINGHAM, Wash. – U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents today arrested 28 employees during a raid at a Bellingham engine manufacturing shop.

The raid occurred at Yamato Engine Specialists, located at 2020 Bakerview Road. A spokesperson said the raid occurred just before 9 a.m. and agents were gone by 10 a.m.

Agents say the workers are foreign nationals with administrative immigration violations. They include 25 men and three women.

The workers are being held at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma.

The raid was instigated by the arrest of a criminal illegal alien who previously worked for Yamato, according to ICE officials. Agents say Yamato's hiring records indicated other workers may have used fake Social Security numbers and counterfeit documents to obtain employment.

"The lure of jobs in the United States continues to be one of the primary factors fueling illegal immigration," said Leigh Winchell, special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Seattle.

A spokesperson for Yamato told the Bellingham Herald that those taken into custody represented about a third of the workforce.

www.king5.com