Immigration agents arrest 114 in sting at Ohio landscaper
June 5, 2018 Video / 01:28
SANDUSKY, Ohio (AP)
U.S. immigration agents made more than 100 arrests Tuesday at a gardening and landscaping company, aided by about 200 law enforcement workers in one of the largest employer stings in recent years.
The 114 arrests occurred at two locations of Corso's Flower & Garden Center, one in Sandusky, a resort city on Lake Erie, and another in nearby Castalia. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it expected criminal charges including identity theft and tax evasion.
No criminal charges have been filed against Corso's, but the employer is under investigation, authorities said. Two locations were searched, and Khaalid Walls, an agency spokesman, said "a large volume of business documents" were seized.
The large-scale operation, assisted by aerial surveillance, is part of the
Trump administration's increasing focus on employers that hire people in the country illegally, one that took hold about a year after the president took office, and came months after a surge in deportation arrests began.
In April, agents made about 100 worker arrests at a meatpacking plant in rural Tennessee, another high-profile show of force reminiscent of
President George W. Bush's administration. No criminal charges have been filed against the employer.
Tuesday's operation was carried out with quiet efficiency. At the Castalia facility — covered with trees, flowers and greenhouse tarps — no workers were seen running as about 100 law enforcement officials established a perimeter. A voice on a radio called attention to specific employees who might try to flee, but none did.
Corso's did not return a message seeking comment on the operation.
Corso's describes itself as a family-owned company that serves seven states with a 160,000-square-foot (15,000-square-meter) greenhouse and additional 200,000 square feet (19,000 square meters) to grow perennials. Its Sandusky facility is on the city's busiest road amid hotels and fast-food joints that cater to tourists who drive by in the summer on their way to Lake Erie and Cedar Point amusement park.
Securing such sprawling facilities typically involves an enormous law enforcement presence to secure the perimeters.
Josie Gonzalez, a Los Angeles attorney who represents businesses on immigration matters, questioned why the arrests couldn't have been made with fewer resources, perhaps by visiting worker homes based on addresses Corso's provided to authorities. She suspects the government wanted publicity.
"Government is overreaching and trying to make a big splash, instill fear in the business community and immigrant communities and make the headlines," she said. "It's a tremendous use of resources to accomplish that purpose."
The investigation into Corso's began in October 2017 when the U.S. Border Patrol arrested a woman who gave stolen identity documents to job applicants in the country illegally, said Steve Francis, head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations unit in Detroit.
The document vendor led investigators to the landscaping company, where they examined documents in its files for irregularities, Francis said.
Some Social Security numbers belonged to dead people.
Of the 313 employees whose records were examined,
123 were found suspicious and targeted for arrest and criminal charges of identity theft and, in nearly all cases, tax evasion.
"We verified that a lot of U.S. persons were obviously unaware of this. It's caused them a lot of hardship," Francis said. "It's not one that we're looking for strictly as a worksite immigration raid."
Immigration officials have sharply increased audits of companies to verify their employees are authorized to work in the country. There were 2,282 employer audits opened between Oct. 1 and May 4, nearly a 60 percent jump from the 1,360 audits opened between October 2016 and September 2017.
Many of those reviews were launched after audits began at 100 7-Eleven franchises in 17 states in January.
The crackdown is likely to please immigration hawks among Trump's supporters but may alienate industries and companies that rely on immigrants in tight labor markets.
Aug 15, 2017
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Session 24 September 2001
goyacobol
Q:(L) Can you designate any of the areas where this violence may occur in the near future?
A: Indianapolis.
Q: (A) What is that? (L) Indianapolis is a city in Indiana. Well that's something that has never been mentioned. What kind of violence?
A: Hit by focusing beam of the HAARP array.
Q: (L) Well that's weird. (A) By mistake? An accident?
A: No.
Q: (L) What will be the outcome of Indianapolis being hit by this focusing beam of the HAARP array?
A: Mind controlled violence.
Q: (L) Can we know what form it will take?
A: Shootings.
Tracking Indianapolis crime in 2018
INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) Updated: Feb 19th, 2018 - 8:29am (EST)
Video / 02:25
After a record-breaking 2017 in terms of violence, the new year didn’t get off to a great start, but February has been much more peaceful.
The first murder of 2018 happened just three days in and then there were 16 homicides in January, roughly one every other day. About half of those were on the east side of town.
The last weekend of January was particularly violent. Two men died after a shooting outside The Sawmill Saloon on the east side and several others were hurt in the same fight. We’re told that fight started because men were arguing about a woman. Earlier that weekend, a man was found shot and killed in the middle of a street near 37th and Baltimore. A Penn Station restaurant worker was shot during a hold up, but was able to recover. And a woman was shot - and died - in an apparent carjacking near 28th and New York.
We're more than halfway through February now and we've only had one report of a murder around Indianapolis, which was on February 1st. That's not to say there haven't been other violent crimes, but that's a big change from what we saw last month.
Even though the homicide numbers are down, that’s no reason to let your guard down. Police say it’s even more important to be vigilant about making and continuing safe habits.
“It takes a community effort,” said Reverend Charles Harrison, of Indy’s Ten Point Coalition. “And when you do, it really changes the mindset of the neighborhood that now we can do this.”
That's the attitude Harrison has seen grow across Indianapolis. He's already seeing results with the Ten Point Coalition's patrols. They expanded this year to some east side neighborhoods, building relationships with people to help change their hearts.
“As you build trust, you can begin to talk about ways people can get out of the game and that's what the goal is, getting people out of the game and helping them become productive citizens,” said Harrison.
IMPD’s Genae Cook says even with fewer homicides, her officers are still keeping busy. They encourage people to stay aware in their own neighborhood.
An important thing to go back to is knowing who your neighbors are, speaking with them, knowing who's going to be in and out,” said Cook. “So when you see somebody that's not familiar, when you see cars that aren't familiar, make note of it.”
As the Ten Point Coalition expands around Indianapolis, Reverend Harrison is also taking his message across the country. Now 13 different cities are planning to use similar ideas, but he says there's still more to do.
“We're now seeing a lot of synergy around this issue and I think we're going to start seeing resources poured into these neighborhoods to address root causes,” said Harrison. “I think that will make the big difference so we have continued violence reduction.”