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Officials Detain 160 Illegal Immigrant Workers Who Were Allegedly Hired By Texas Company

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Neetu Arnold Contributor
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An investigation into a Texas company led to a raid by agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), who detained 160 illegal immigrants on Tuesday.

Load Trail, a trailer manufacturing company in the unincorporated community of Sumner, Texas, allegedly employed the foreign workers, The Dallas Morning News reported Tuesday.

“They just came and raided from every entrance there was,” Load Trail employee Dennis Perry told The Morning News. He added that some of the workers hid behind shelves, while others ran away only to get tackled by the agents.

Many of the workers used fake identification, an ICE report said. The company’s owner may face criminal indictment.

“Businesses that knowingly hire illegal aliens create an unfair advantage over their competing businesses,” Special Agent in Charge Katrina Berger of HSI Dallas said, according to the ICE report. “In addition, they take jobs away from U.S. citizens and legal residents, and they create an atmosphere poised for exploiting their illegal workforce.”

This is not the first time the company would have hired unauthorized workers. Load Trail previously paid $445,000 in fines for hiring over 179 illegal immigrant workers in 2014, The Morning News reported. (RELATED: REPORT: Claims That Immigrants Are Needed To Do The Jobs Americans Won’t Doesn’t Hold Up)

Those with criminal histories or facing new criminal charges would be taken into custody immediately, according to The Morning News.

Some will be released on humanitarian reasons if it’s determined they have medical conditions or are the sole caregivers for children, though all illegal aliens encountered will be fingerprinted and processed for removal from the U.S., the ICE report said. The rest will remain in custody.

Over 500 employees work at the family-owned business, according to Load Trail’s website.

ICE did not immediately respond to a Daily Caller News Foundation request for comment.

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