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ImmigrationProf Blog
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ICE Raid in Nebraska

By immigrationprof

Oskar Garcia of the Associated Press reports:

The owner of a lawn care company in Grand Island has been charged with harboring illegal immigrants, and 19 of his workers were arrested on suspicion of violating immigration laws.

A criminal complaint unsealed Friday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Nebraska accuses David L. Wortman of knowingly hiring illegal immigrants and paying them in cash to work for Cloudburst Lawn and Sprinkler.

Wortman was charged on Tuesday, and on Thursday U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided Cloudburst and arrested the 19 suspected illegal immigrants. Wortman appeared in court on Friday.

A spokesman for ICE said the 19 are suspected of violating immigration laws, but not of other crimes. The employees were taken to Phelps County Jail for processing.

Federal agents went to Cloudburst intending to arrest Wortman but he wasn’t there, and the search warrant gave agents the right to question and arrest illegal workers who were there, ICE spokesman Tim Counts said. Click here for the full story.

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