U.S. immigration agents made more than 100 arrests at a Sandusky-area gardening company Tuesday morning.
It’s part of the Trump administration's growing crackdown on employers for hiring people who are in the country illegally.
The 114 arrests happened this morning at two locations of Corso's Flower & Garden Center, a business ICE had been investigating for years according to Steve Francis, head of ICE's Homeland Security Investigations unit.
Complaints against Corso's included suspected tax evasion, and identity theft.
"The IRS had identified that a significant number of employees were not paying federal taxes; numerous complaints coming into our tip-lines where we were able to identify and interview individuals that had direct knowledge that Corso's was harboring and employing illegal aliens," Francis said in a phone interview Tuesday.
Some immigrant rights advocates balked at that reasoning, saying there are systems in place to collect taxes from immigrants.
But perhaps more unsettling to Veronica Dahlberg of HOLA Ohio was the swiftness of these arrests, in light of reports of families at the U.S.-Mexico border being separated from each other.
"There were many children left behind with baby-sitters, day care centers, and so forth, what's going to happen to those children?" Dahlberg asked in a phone interview.
Dahlberg said deportation flights leave from Toledo or Detroit on Tuesdays, and she believes those arrested will be out of the country next week.
