ICE official confirms raid in Vinton, Toledo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
November 18, 2008
Immigration agents are investigating two Chinese restaurants in eastern Iowa.
Tim Counts, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, says restaurants in Vinton and Toledo were being investigated on Tuesday.
Both restaurants are called the Peony Chinese Restaurant.
Counts did not say what prompted the investigation. Counts says no arrests had been made by early Tuesday afternoon.
Counts said ICE had summoned Iowa State Patrol officers to the restaurant for security, but they were not directly involved in the enforcement operation. The raid, he said, is much smaller than the May 12 operation at Agriprocessors Inc. that led to the arrest of 389 illegal immigrant workers.
A spokeswoman for the Iowa State Patrol said she did not yet have details about the action. Vinton’s police chief was out of the office.
Peony Chinese Restaurant is located in downtown Vinton and serves Mandarin and Cantonese style Chinese food, according to online ads.
Vinton, an eastern Iowa town of 5,100, is the county seat of Benton County.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20081118/NEWS03/81118020/-1/NEWS04
