News Releases

ICE conducts enforcement operation at 2 Maryland restaurants

BALTIMORE - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Baltimore conducted enforcement operations at two Maryland restaurants, one office and several residences March 11 in an ongoing investigation.

"Today's enforcement action is part of a multi-phased approach utilized by ICE to ensure that employers are held accountable for maintaining a legal workforce," said ICE special agent in charge of Baltimore William Winter. "ICE is committed to investigating employers who engage in illegal employment schemes that utilize illegal labor to make an unlawful profit and give them an unfair advantage over businesses that operate lawfully."

During this action, ICE agents administratively arrested 29 undocumented aliens for being unlawfully present in the United States.

All of the individuals taken into custody during the operation are being photographed, fingerprinted and processed by ICE. They are also being interviewed by ICE agents and health care professionals currently assigned to ICE from the Department of Health and Human Services Division of Immigration Health Services (DIHS). The goal of the DIHS interviews is to elicit information from the arrestees about possible health, caregiver or other humanitarian issues, and to identify any urgent medical needs.

This is an ICE-led investigation with support from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland, Anne Arundel County Police Department and Baltimore County Police Department.