Construction Site Raids by INS Yield 42 Arrests

IRVINE — A half-day sweep of five construction sites in Irvine on Tuesday resulted in the arrest of 42 men who immigration agents say were illegally working in the United States.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service raid also uncovered a dozen contractors who may have knowingly hired the illegal residents and were “hiding them in the books,” said John Brechtel, an INS officer in charge of the Orange County bureau.

“They’ve likely been paying them in cash,” Brechtel said. “At minimum wage.”

Twelve INS agents went to several upscale neighborhoods near Culver and Warner avenues, where new homes, a park and swimming pool are being built. More arrests were made at developments near Whispering Pine and Wedgewood and Canyonwood and Meadowood, officials said.

All of the workers taken into custody told officials they were from Mexico and none were able to produce proper immigration documents, the INS said. The illegal workers accounted for at least 25% of the contractors’ employees on the sites Tuesday, INS supervising agent Bobby Coleman said.

“It was a fairly significant number,” Coleman said.

Officials said the contractors’ names won’t be released until a records audit is completed to determine whether the companies knowingly hired illegal immigrants or received counterfeit documents from the workers. If no verifying documents are produced, the contractors can be fined as much as $2,000 for each worker, Brechtel said.

Orange County INS agents said the hiring of undocumented workers has shifted somewhat from the garment and restaurant industries to construction.

“It’s been ongoing for quite some time in Los Angeles, especially after the Northridge earthquake,” Brechtel said.

The men arrested Tuesday may either accept immediate deportation or request a hearing before an immigration judge, Brechtel said.