KINGS MOUNTAIN, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers stated a raid on a Kings Mountain manufacturing unit Wednesday afternoon was a part of an investigation into id theft.
That blitz concerned ICE brokers taking employees at Buckeye Hearth Gear into custody.
“There is a bunch of cops right here. And I used to be like, ‘What are you speaking about?’ And I regarded down the corridor; there was a mass there. They’d masks on. They’d their weapons drawn. They had been like, Hey, we’d like all people [to] go within the entrance,” stated Erick.
Eric Pinon shot video, and he and his coworkers gathered in a single spot at Buckeye Hearth. Within the video, males in massive vests and badges are seen standing behind the employees.
He was capable of seize this video earlier than any brokers stepped in to cease him.
“I used to be making an attempt to report, and he instructed me, ‘No recording, put your telephone up.’ He grabbed my telephone, and like, that is when he took the report off, and he turned off my telephone. He was like, ‘All people flip off your telephones now. It isn’t. You may be detained,’ Pinon stated.
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Pinon, a U.S. citizen, stated as soon as everybody’s telephones had been turned off, what seemed to be immigration brokers led them to a small room for a minimum of an hour earlier than particular person interrogations exterior.
“That is once they had been checking all of us. They had been asking questions like, “Are you a U.S. citizen? Anyone in there? You a citizen or not? You a citizen?” Or if, like, anyone that is working with out papers or below a special identify,” he stated.
Pinon selected to not reply any questions. Brokers handed out blue wristbands to point who had authorized citizenship.
Dulce Cruz-Hernandez’s mother works on the manufacturing unit, and she or he has questions of her personal.
“I might ask them why and if, like the corporate referred to as them, or similar to how did they find yourself on this manufacturing unit particularly?” Cruz-Hernandez stated.
ICE spokesperson Lindsay Williams stated brokers had been executing a warrant for aggravated id theft and different crimes, which embrace doubtlessly using individuals illegally.
“Allegations of id theft and you need to take significantly. Would you need your identities used for another person to work or do no matter they’ll do with them? So it is a critical federal crime,” Williams stated. “There have been some of us detained the place someplace within the dozen or so vary, however that quantity might improve as we proceed.”
From the air, tents could possibly be seen that regarded like a staging space, and folks lined up exterior of the huge advanced on Kings Street.
FBI, ATF, DEA, CBP, US Marshals, Gaston County Police, and Gaston County deputies had been on the scene.
“It is actually unhappy as a result of I simply do not know what is going on on with my mom. I do not know if she’s going to return again residence right now, by no means, ever. I actually do not know. My mother’s the one guardian I’ve actually, as a result of my dad’s sadly not within the nation both,” Cruz-Hernandez stated.
Williams stated the investigation is ongoing.