Nearly 300 workers were arrested after Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials raided a tech company in Allen, Texas, on Wednesday.
The operation took place at CVE Technology Group, a company that repairs cell phones and electronics. The building is located on Enterprise Drive, near the Central Expressway.
280 CVE employees were arrested in total for administrative immigration violations. They will be interviewed by ICE officials to determine who will remain in custody and who will qualify for humanitarian release.
“As far as immigration related arrests, this is the largest ICE worksite operation at one site in the last 10 years,” said Special Agent in Charge Katrina W. Berger, HSI Dallas.
Officials stated that the investigation began back in January after ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations received a tip that the Allen-based company was knowingly hiring undocumented immigrants who were using fraudulent documents.
“As far as immigration arrests, this is the largest at one site in 10 years,” said Katrina Berger, Special Agent in Charge with HSI Dallas.
Mariela Ortega was one of the workers, she has documentation to work in the United States legally and was cleared by the ICE agents Wednesday. Mariela was inside the business when hundreds of agents stormed in.
“People say, ‘Immigration! Immigration!’” Mariela Ortega recalled. “And all coworkers started running.”
