A two-year investigation into immigrants with fraudulent identity documents led federal officials to arrest 48 workers at a metal casting company in South Carolina and six people facing state charges, including two top managers at the plant, authorities announced Thursday.
Dozens of federal and local law enforcement officials raided Burnstein von Seelen Precision Castings in Abbeville on Wednesday.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained the workers over alleged immigration violations, and the company’s plant manager and human resources director were arrested over allegations that they knowingly placed immigrants in the United States illegally, state Attorney General Alan Wilson said at a news conference.
The company officials were indicted by a state grand jury, along with four other people accused of making and selling fake U.S. and international identities using information from identity theft.
“We want to send a message that this is not about going after people who are trying to feed their families,” Wilson said. “This is not going after companies or companies that are unwittingly hiring illegally. This is about going after something much bigger, you know, a conspiracy of people across the state of South Carolina to steal identities, create fake Social Security cards, fake driver’s licenses, fake immigration documents.”
Burnstein von Seelen officials did not immediately respond to messages left by phone and on its website.
The company’s two directors are expected to appear in Richland District Court in Columbia on Thursday to face charges of criminal conspiracy and identity fraud to obtain employment. It was not immediately clear whether they had lawyers who could respond to these accusations.
Founded in 1985, Bernstein von Sellen is a metal casting company that uses various alloys of copper, copper and bronze to make a range of components, according to its website. It is located in Abbeville County, population about 25,000, in western South Carolina not far from the Georgia line, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) west of Columbia.
ICE officials said they were reviewing the immigration status of the 48 workers who were detained, and said they included people with prior encounters with ICE and some who had previously been ordered deported.
Authorities said the investigation is ongoing, and more indictments and arrests are likely.
The American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina said it is seeking more information about the detention of migrant workers. She also expressed general skepticism about initial government statements about ICE operations, due to what she said were incorrect descriptions about other immigration enforcement actions around the country.
“The bottom line is that these employees showed up for work, and many of them will not be able to return home to their families,” Jess Woodrum, the group’s chief executive, said in a statement. “In other states, we have seen similar actions that include gross violations of the individual freedoms guaranteed to all regardless of immigration status.”
State officials began the investigation in October 2024. At the time it began, local law enforcement officials were frustrated by the lack of federal enforcement efforts against fraudulent identities and identity theft under President Joe Biden’s administration, Wilson said. That changed when, he said President Donald Trump He took office last year, and federal authorities joined the state investigation, he said.
Wednesday’s raid on the factory was not typical of a Trump raid Mass deportation efforts Which received criticism. Immigration raids on businesses were a relatively small part of the deportation campaign, and state officials played a leading role in the investigation in South Carolina.
District Attorney Creighton Waters said officials approached the investigation in ways similar to drug investigations, going after not only people using the fake documents but also those supplying them.