Border Patrol Arrests 45 In Immigration Raid

The U.S. Border Patrol arrested 45 people suspected of being illegal immigrants in a raid on a fruitpacking warehouse here.

Of those, 44 Brewster Heights Packing Co. workers were found to be in the country illegally and will be given a choice of voluntarily returning to their countries or facing deportation hearings, Marvin Foust, a spokesman for the Border Patrol office in Spokane said Wednesday.

The illegal immigrants arrested Tuesday left the warehouse with a skeleton crew scrambling to pack and ship about 10,000 boxes of apples.

Owner Ed Pariseau said the surprise raid was a disruption to the company, which employs nearly 200 people.

“We’re being as careful as we can be to hire legal workers,” he said. “We follow the exact procedure that’s required. As far as we know, everybody here has (the required paperwork) … I hope they’re all legal.”

Foust said the agency obtained a search warrant from the U.S. District Court in Spokane after receiving numerous complaints that illegal workers were employed at the company. Border Patrol agents were joined by Immigration and Naturalization Service employees.

An initial review of company records indicates nearly half of the employees were illegal, Foust said. The illegal workers may have given fraudulent identification, Foust said. An investigation into whether company executives knew illegal aliens were working for them is continuing, he said.