Feds arrest 64 in raids
Immigration officers on prowl for illegal immigrants living in the Lansing area
By Abby Lubbers
The State News
Published: October 27, 2008
A sign reading “Now hiring experienced servers” in the window of El Azteco serves as a quiet reminder of what happened at the East Lansing restaurant 10 days ago. Four people were arrested Oct. 19 at the restaurant, 225 Ann St., Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesman Mike Gilhooly said.
The arrests, which were part of a National Fugitive Operations Program initiative, aimed to apprehend people illegally working in the U.S.
Sixty-four people in the Lansing area were arrested during the Oct. 17-20 initiative. Among those arrested, 40 were targets who had warrants out for their arrest, Gilhooly said.
Immigration officers arrested four people at El Azteco at about 11 a.m. Oct. 19. The officers were looking for three targets, and arrested another person who was identified as an illegal alien after attempting to flee, Gilhooly said.
One of the people arrested had worked at El Azteco for 18 years and another person had been there for 10 years, said the restaurant’s owner, Arturo Santa Cruz.
Santa Cruz said the men, to his knowledge, were U.S. citizens, and he had helped the 18-year employee with immigration papers.
“They were model citizens. They paid their income taxes, they paid social security — one was even in the process of buying a home,” he said. “They were part of the economy.”
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