Read our article Combat and Resist ICE Terror here.
48 workers at a metal casting plant in Abbeville, SC and 21 workers in Lake Placid, NY were abducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in late May and early June, according to activist organizations and federal government sources.
The South Carolina workers were abducted as part of a raid on Burnstein von Seelen Precision Castings, dubbed “Operation Ghost Story.” A manager told monopoly media, “I didn’t know what was going on. I heard people screaming.” He added, “I walked into the machine shop and there’s 50-60 agents in there with guns drawn and tactical formation coming down through there.”
After the raids, he said, the production floor is “dead”. “We went from having 100 employees to we might have had 24 working there today.”
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said at a press conference that the South Carolina abductions were due to “a conspiracy of people around South Carolina to steal identities”. Only six of the 48 abducted are facing charges related to identity theft.
Wilson added that the plant manager and human resources director were detained on charges that they knowingly hired undocumented immigrants. ICE officials said that the immigration status of the 48 abducted workers is still under review.
North Country Immigrant Allies (NCIA) reports that the New York abductions took place on May 28 and June 2 against roofers and restaurant workers. NCIA notes that many of the abducted workers have legal permission to live and work in the US, and that the workers were not given the opportunity to provide documents.
Image: An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, 2017. Credit: Defense Visual Information Distribution Service.
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