ORLANDO, Fla. -- More than 60 illegal aliens were handcuffed and loaded onto buses Wednesday morning. Some cooperated, while others had to be hunted down, and you've been paying for them to work.
The sting went down at the new federal courthouse building being built in downtown Orlando. Federal agents say the raid took weeks of planning, but they managed to get in and out of the construction site within two hours.
The legal workers were back on the job Wednesday afternoon, but one-third to one-half of their workforce is gone.
Wednesday morning, with federal agents overhead and Orlando police in a perimeter on the ground, more than 60 officers swarmed the construction site, searching for illegal workers.
"We asked the contractor to call all the employees down to the work trailer. From there we started the identification process, interview process," explained Mark Garrand, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Resident Agent in Charge.
Some were arrested right away, but dozens scattered through the frame of the building.
"They were nailing themselves inside a box, hiding in rafters above two-by-fours. Our agents had to get ladders to in fact bring them down from the last floor," said Garrand.
Five teams from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) searched every inch of what will eventually be a new federal courthouse. They took away 66 illegal aliens. They have not found any terrorist ties, but that's a concern with construction of a potential target.
"They have access to the full building. Objects can be placed in any location here for future use," explained Garrand.
Agents hope to identify every worker by searching wallets and pockets. Some don't speak English. Most are believed to be from Mexico, and that's where they'll end up, provided they have no prior record.
"What we look for is suspected criminal aliens, someone who's been deported already from our country and snuck back in across our borders, or committed crimes in our country while they're here illegally. That's our priority," said Garrand.
All of the illegal workers are being questioned. Agents are hoping to trace any fake documents they found.
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