ICE Arrests 13 Illegal Workers At Bay Ar...

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ICE Arrests 13 Illegal Workers At Bay Area Packaging Factory

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents this morning arrested 13 foreign nationals who were working illegally at a Bay Area factory that makes packaging products for industry and agribusiness, including the U.S. military.

Seven of the 13 Eagle Bag employees taken into custody today used valid social security numbers belonging to others in order to obtain their jobs.

Today's enforcement action targeted unauthorized alien workers at the plant operated by the Eagle Bag Corporation in Oakland. The company, which manufactures a variety of specialty packaging products, supplies sand bags to the military and bags used by the U.S. government for food distribution to Third World countries.

The 13 workers taken into custody were identified after ICE agents audited Eagle Bag's employment records. The audit revealed that 47 of the company's more than 70 employees submitted counterfeit immigration documents bearing fraudulent alien registration numbers to obtain their jobs. In addition, ICE agents determined 33 of Eagle Bag's illegal workers were using stolen social security numbers.

ICE agents emphasize that Eagle Bag Corporation sought to comply with current hiring laws and is not facing any charges related to the worksite probe at this time. Meanwhile, ICE agents are continuing to investigate the illegal alien employees to determine whether any of them will face federal prosecution for aggravated identity theft, a violation that carries a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison. Read more at ice.gov.

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