Dozens of federal agents descended on a major meat supplier in northeast Ohio on Tuesday, arresting 146 Fresh Mark employees in what Immigration and Customs Enforcement calls its largest workplace raid in recent history and its second massive raid in the state this month, NPR reports. ICE said that its investigative arm, Homeland Security Investigations, obtained a warrant to search the meat processing plant in Salem, Oh., as part of a yearlong probe of Fresh Mark’s hiring practices and whether it may have knowingly hired undocumented immigrants.
Although ICE notes that agents released several suspects for “humanitarian concerns, such as health or family considerations,” the agency says most of the undocumented workers “will be detained in facilities in Michigan and Ohio while awaiting removal proceedings.” The agency’s Steve Francis said, “Unlawful employment is one of the key magnets drawing illegal aliens across our borders. Businesses who knowingly harbor and hire illegal aliens as a business model must be held accountable for their actions.” About 100 people were arrested at a meat packing plant in Tennessee in April, while two weeks ago in Ohio, ICE rounded up 114 people in a massive immigration raid at a landscaping company.