Houston – Federal agents arrested 53 suspected illegal immigrants Wednesday after raiding a trash-collection plant, officials said.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said those arrested at the Republic Services Inc. plant near Houston face deportation.
Many are from El Salvador, Mexico, Honduras and Nicaragua.
Agents detained workers hired through temporary agencies, said Will Flower, a spokesman for the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based company. The company has no oversight on how the temporary staffing agencies that provide workers to Republic comply with federal regulations, he said.
The company has yet to learn why some workers were arrested, Flower said.
“It could be as simple as they came to work without their green card,” he said.
Wednesday’s raid was the latest in a string of immigration arrests in recent months, including nearly 1,300 in meatpacking plants in six states, including Colorado, in December.
