AKRON ‒ A federal grand jury has charged eight people who were found at a Canton manufacturing facility on Aug. 6 with immigration and identity theft-related violations.
According to court documents, four of the defendants were previously removed from the U.S. but were found in Ohio without the consent of the U.S. attorney general or the secretary for homeland security for readmission.
Seven of the defendants are from Guatemala and a one is from El Salvador, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio. They range in age from 21 to 55.
The charges are illegal reentry of removed alien, false claim to U.S. citizenship to engage unlawfully in employment, misuse of Social Security number, aggravated identity theft and unlawful use of identification documents.
The manufacturing facility where the defendants were found was not identified in the release. The local communities where they were living also were not included.
Messages sent to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement seeking additional details, including their detention status had not been returned as of the early afternoon of Sept. 2. The cases also were not immediately available through the U.S. Courts online system.
The online inmate locator system of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement indicated that one of the defendants is in custody at the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center, a private prison operated by CoreCivic in Youngstown. The detainee is a 46-year-old from Guatemala who is charged with illegal reentry of removed alien. It is not clear whether the remaining defendants are in custody.
“These cases are part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect communities from the perpetrators of violent crime,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a press release on Sept. 2.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has become the driving force of President Donald Trump’s sweeping crackdown on migrants, bolstered by record funding and new latitude to conduct raids.
Americans have been inundated with images on social media of often masked agents in tactical gear handcuffing people on neighborhood streets, at worksites, outside schools, churches, and courthouses, and in their driveways. Videos of some arrests have gone viral, fueling public anger over the tactics.
Since Trump took office, the average number of people held in immigration detention centers has increased 25%, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The uptick in detentions comes against a backdrop of a divisive national debate over immigration enforcement.
Trump has said he wants to deport “the worst of the worst.”
Includes reporting by USA TODAY.
(This breaking news story will be updated as more information is available.)
This article originally appeared on The Repository: 8 workers found in Canton indicted by federal grand jury on immigration charges
Reporting by Nancy Molnar, Canton Repository / The Repository
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
