ICE worksite enforcement investigation yields 77 arrests

March 29, 2007

GREENVILLE, Miss.- 77 illegal aliens working on construction projects at critical infrastructure sites in four U.S. Southern states were arrested this morning following the culmination of a five-month long U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigation.

Many of those arrested this morning worked for Greenville-based Tarrasco Steel. The company, owned by Jose S. Gonzalez, has been under ICE investigation following allegations of criminal misconduct.

ICE special agents also executed federal search warrants this morning on the local Tarrasco Steel business office complex.

The Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General, confirmed that the majority of Tarrasco Steel employees were using unauthorized social security numbers for employment. ICE obtained copies of payroll records for the employees for verification of the employees' status in the United States and to substantiate the allegations of criminal misconduct. Gonzalez allegedly falsified and altered information on the I-9 Employee Eligibility Forms.

The illegal alien workforce was working on rebuilding the Huey P. Long bridge in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; the Mississippi-Arkansas bridge in Greenville, Mississippi; the I-40 Seismic retro fit in Memphis, Tennessee; the US-90 bridge in Gulfport, Mississippi, and the Louisiana 1 bridge in Leeville, Louisiana.