ICE worksite enforcement operation results in multiple arrests in Louisiana

NEW ORLEANS — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted a large-scale consensual worksite enforcement operation at Port of Lake Charles, Louisiana March 13, in support of an investigation into the illegal hiring of unauthorized employees by commercial and industrial general contractors currently engaged in a construction project within the Port of Lake Charles, a Critical Infrastructure and Key Resource location.

As a result of the operation, 11 aliens were identified and arrested as working on the port and amenable to removal proceedings. The aliens came from Mexico, Nicaragua and Ecuador.

This was an ICE HSI-led operation executed by the Homeland Security Task Force Louisiana with the support of ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operations, CBP Border Patrol, FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Coast Guard, USCG Investigative Service, the Louisiana State Police, the Calcasieu Parrish Sheriff’s Office, ​and the Lake Charles Harbor Police.

Under federal law, employers are required to verify the identity and employment eligibility of all individuals they hire, and to document that information using the Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9. ICE uses the I-9 inspection program to promote compliance with the law, part of a comprehensive strategy to address and deter illegal employment. Inspections are one of the most powerful tools the federal government uses to ensure that businesses are complying with U.S. employment laws.

ICE’s worksite enforcement strategy includes leveraging the agency’s other investigative disciplines, since worksite investigations can often involve additional criminal activity, such as alien smuggling, human trafficking, money laundering, document fraud, worker exploitation and/or substandard wage and working conditions.