EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. – Federal agents arrested 81 illegal immigrants during a raid at a manufacturing plant in the Poconos.
All the workers arrested Tuesday at Iridium Industries Inc.'s Artube division have been placed in removal proceedings for eventual deportation, said Ernestine Fobbs, a spokeswoman with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
She declined to say what led to the raid. The company makes plastic tubes for lotions and other consumer products, according to its Web site.
The arrested immigrants are from Mexico, Indonesia, Malaysia and Ecuador and were taken to detention centers for processing, Fobbs said.
Federal agents have carried out several similar raids in recent months as part of a national effort to crack down on illegal hiring.
Last week, federal agents raided a food processing plant in Oregon and detained more than 165 workers on immigration, illegal document and identity theft charges. In December, more than 1,200 immigrant workers were arrested at Swift & Co. meatpacking plants in six states.
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