Federal immigration agents raid dozens of 7-Eleven stores across U.S.

U.S. immigration agents raided dozens of 7-Eleven stores early Wednesday morning across the country to deliver audits and interview employees.

The pre-dawn sweep exhibits a new front in President Donald Trump’s crack down on immigration enforcement and is what agents called the largest operation targeting an employer since he took office. Thus far, the president’s stricter practices has already brought a 40 percent increase in deportation arrests.

The raids involved close to 100 stores around the nation and ended with 21 arrests of workers suspected of being in the country illegally, though the action was largely aimed at management.

The audits could lead to criminal charges or fines to the stores’ hiring practices.

The operation was desrcibed by ICE agents as a follow-up from a 2013 investigation that resulted in the arrests of nine 7-Eleven franchise owners and managers in New York and Virginia. Eight have pleaded guilty and were ordered to pay more than $2.6 million in back wages. The ninth was arrested in November.

Derek Benner, a top official at ICE, told the Associated Press that Wednesday’s operation was “the first of many” and “a harbinger of what’s to come” for employers. He said there would be more employment audits and investigations to come.

“This is what we’re gearing up for this year and what you’re going to see more and more of is these large-scale compliance inspections, just for starters. From there, we will look at whether these cases warrant an administrative posture or criminal investigation,” said Benner, acting head of ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations, which oversees cases against employers.

Last year, ICE said it conducted 1,360 employee audits, making more than 300 arrests on criminal and administrative violations, the Washington Post reported. Businesses were ordered to pay $97.6 million in judicial forfeiture, fines and restitution, the agency said, and $7.8 million in civil fines.

This story was originally published January 10, 2018 at 3:53 PM with the headline "Federal immigration agents raid dozens of 7-Eleven stores across U.S.."