美国移民官员星期二突击检查了俄亥俄州的两家园艺商店,逮捕114人。据信他们是无证移民,并被指盗窃他人身份。

这是国土安全部和移民局官员近年来最大规模的突击检查。

被突击检查的两家店是科尔索花卉园艺中心的两家分店,一家在桑达斯基,一家在卡斯塔利亚。

除逮捕人之外,移民官员还从其中一家园艺店搬走了若干箱当局发言人所称的“很多文件证据”。

美国联邦官员去年10月逮捕了一名妇女。他们称她为“身份证件贩子”,专门把偷盗来的身份证明卖给合法和非法劳工。根据这个“贩卖身份证明”嫌疑人提供的线索,调查人员查到了科尔索花卉园艺中心。

科尔索花卉园艺中心没有受到任何刑事指控,但是一直在被调查。一名移民调查官员说,科尔索花卉园艺中连锁店看来对所雇人员持有虚假身份证明并不知情。

U.S. immigration agents raided two Ohio garden stores Tuesday and arrested 114 workers believed to be undocumented immigrants, for alleged identity theft.

It was the largest such sting by Homeland Security and immigration agents in recent years.

The agents carried out raids at two separate locations of Corso’s Flower and Garden

Center — one in Sandusky and the other in Castalia.

Along with the arrests, agents carried out boxes of what a spokesman called “a lot of documentary evidence” from one of the stores.

The investigation into Corso’s began in October when agents arrested a woman that they called a “document vendor” — someone who sells stolen identity documents to legal and illegal would-be workers. The suspected vendor led investigators to Corso’s.

Corso’s is not facing any criminal charges but is still under investigation. An immigration official said the garden center chain was obviously unaware it was hiring workers with falsified documents.