INS sweeps Wood River Valley

By ANDREW M. SCUTRO
Express Staff Writer

Seven Hispanic males allegedly working in the Wood River Valley illegally were arrested by the Immigration and Naturalization Service last week.

Officials would not release names of the suspects, because the arrests were part of a larger operation by the federal agency.

"It’s an ongoing investigation. I cannot comment on what they were looking for," said Don McDole, an agent in the INS Boise office, regarding why agents were in this area last Tuesday and Wednesday.

McDole would only say that the people arrested were all from Mexico, all male and none were related.

Two of the seven had deportation orders because of prior immigration problems, McDole said.

The seven men were taken to an Ada County jail and are supposed to appear before an immigration judge in Seattle, Wash.

Although the arrests are part of an ongoing investigation, McDole said the agents came to this area acting on an anonymous tip.

A local employer who lost one worker in the raid said INS agents in a van drove up to his employees while they were working on landscaping in a local neighborhood. The agents asked the workers for their papers in Spanish and ended up detaining one on the spot.

"It was weird," said the business owner.

Visits by the INS can put an employer in an awkward position. In many cases, business owners and managers trust information supplied to them by immigrant laborers to be valid.

"As far as I know he was legal. He’s worked for me for four years," said the business owner of the arrested employee.

The recent visit was just another day for the INS.

"We’re always looking for illegal workers," said Randy Robinson, INS assistant district director for investigations in Helena, Mont. "For us it’s business as usual."

Investigations can begin from a employee tax record audit of a business or just random visits, Robinson said.

McDole called the operation "work site enforcement."

He said the subjects were arrested after agents saw them working on the side of the road. The agents stopped and asked for proof of citizenship or valid documentation.

"If they are an alien, they have to be in possession of their immigration papers at all times," McDole said.