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Team Coverage It was chaos this morning in Utah County when immigration law enforcement officers raided a Lindon business. Dozens of workers suspected of being in the country illegally were arrested.
Law enforcement officers swarmed the industrial complex this morning. When it was all over, more than 50 people were in custody, and the company and its human resource manager were indicted on federal charges for hiring illegal immigrants.
It was the middle of the work day at Universal Industrial Sales, a company that makes metal guardrails for freeways, as more than 100 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents surrounded the building.
Within a few minutes, people in handcuffs were led out of the building and driven away. "This is nothing random or spontaneous. The investigation has been going on for sometime and it's based on specific intelligence about the possibility of illegal aliens working here," explained Tim Counts, ICE spokesman.
A federal indictment accuses the company of harboring illegal immigrants for commercial advantage. The company's human resource manager faces criminal charges of encouraging illegal immigrants to stay in the United States.
"I think it is safe to say anytime we find illegal aliens working some place there's document fraud involved. Unfortunately, fraudulent documents are very easy to get a hold of, and so that's something we'll be looking into as we do the processing," Counts said.
KSL News was there when family members arrived. Some looked very concerned about what was going on, others didn't. "I'm not worried. I'm not worried. Since we have documents, I'm not worried," one family member said.
A man who used to work at the business called the raid sad. "They just give jobs to people who need them ‘cause they--for $9, $10, $11 an hour for welders--they don't care, just trying to get food for their families," he said.
He heard the company had become stricter in checking workers' documentation in recent months. "Three or four months ago they were checking papers on everybody, but they never fired anybody that was already there. They should have done that and we wouldn't be going through this situation right now," he said.
For family members wanting to check the status of those taken into custody today, there is a toll free number they can call: 1-866-341-3858.
A meeting for families has also been organized tonight by Latino advocate Tony Yapias at the St. Francis Catholic Church in Orem at 6:30 p.m.
