UPDATE: ICE raids Christensen Farms in Sleepy Eye; warrants served in multi-state raid




  • 23 hrs ago



SLEEPY EYE — Christensen Farms in Sleepy Eye was among work sites raided by immigration officials Wednesday, accused of knowingly hiring illegal workers.

The raid was part of a multi-state investigation into several ag-related businesses in Minnesota and Nebraska.

Christensen is one of the largest hog producers in the country.

“The job magnet in the United States is primarily what draws illegal aliens across our borders,” Special Agent in Charge Tracy J. Cormier of Homeland Security Investigations said in a press release.

“This HSI-led criminal investigation has shown that these targeted businesses were knowingly hiring illegal workers to unlawfully line their own pockets by cheating the workers, cheating the taxpayers, and cheating their business competitors.”

As 15 to 20 ICE agents descended on the Sleepy Eye headquarters of Christensen, company spokeswoman Amber Portner said they were cooperating with officials.

"We're unaware of any wrongdoing by our company."
Christensen Farms has nearly 1,000 employees and 1,500 contract partners across the Midwest. They operate four feed mills, manage 145,000 sows on 44 farms, and oversee more than 350 nurseries and grow-finish sites.

Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations also administratively arrested 133 people for illegally working in the U.S.

ICE said some of those arrested will be issued notices to appear before a federal immigration judge and released from custody while the rest will remain in ICE custody pending immigration court proceedings.

They did not say how many were arrested from Christensen facilities and said the investigation is ongoing.

Homeland Security said it also issued arrest warrants for 17 individuals connected to an alleged criminal conspiracy to exploit illegal alien laborers for profit, fraud, wire fraud and money laundering in Minnesota, Nebraska and Nevada.

ICE said the 17 individuals are believed to have "colluded to create an illegal alien workforce in their respective businesses. By doing so, they defrauded the U.S. government and created an unfair advantage over their competition businesses.

Additionally, authorities suspect the illegal aliens who were knowingly hired as part of this alleged conspiracy were exploited by the conspirators through force, coercion, or threat of arrest and/or deportation," the agency said in a statement.

"Specifically, these illegal aliens were allegedly required to cash their paychecks at an illegal remittance business for a fee, have tax money deducted from their pay even though this money was never paid to the government, and were coerced to remain quiet about this criminal activity."

The enforcement action is part of a 15-month Homeland Security investigation based on evidence that these companies allegedly knowingly hired illegal aliens at their facilities, and that many of these aliens are using fraudulent identification belonging to U.S. citizens, the ICE news release said.

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