42 Illegals Arrested in ‘Operation Icicle’ : Raid: Authorities believe they were smuggled from Mexico to sell ice cream from pushcarts in Los Angeles.

In a raid dubbed “Operation Icicle,” immigration authorities swarmed the warehouse of a Pacoima vending business Friday and arrested 42 illegal aliens believed to have been smuggled from Mexico to sell ice cream from pushcarts in Los Angeles, authorities said.

Robert Moschorak, district director of the INS office in Los Angeles, said about a dozen INS agents found the workers sleeping inside and outside the Delicias de Michoacan warehouse at 13303 Van Nuys Blvd.

“They were living there and sleeping in somewhat squalid conditions,” Moschorak said. “They were sleeping in cars, on freezers, in boxes.” A manager and foreman were also arrested in the 6 a.m. raid, he said.

Moschorak said agents learned four weeks ago that the warehouse was being used as a home by illegal aliens. After a preliminary investigation, agents obtained a warrant to search the property, which includes two buildings and a covered parking area.

A member of the family that owns the Ontario-based Delicias de Michoacan denied that the company, which has warehouses throughout Southern California, had any involvement in smuggling workers into the country.

Gus Mora called the raid a “witch hunt” and said the people taken into custody by the INS were not employees of the company and had been sleeping on the property without approval.

Moschorak declined to say what prompted his investigation.

“They were being smuggled into the United States, transported to this location and harbored there,” Moschorak said. “The initial indications are that some paid as much as $1,500 to get here.”

Moschorak said a manager of the property, identified as Margarito Macias de Ando, and a foreman whose identity was not known were arrested on suspicion of harboring illegal aliens. All of those arrested were being held at the federal detention center in Los Angeles, where they were being interviewed by INS agents Friday.

Moschorak said investigators had not determined how the 36 men, five women and a boy were transported to this country or how long they have been here. He said they were apparently allowed to stay at the warehouse by night and sell ice cream and frozen fruit bars called paletas from carts by day.

“It is believed that some of them were allowed to work to pay back the people who smuggled them here,” Moschorak said. “We will attempt to learn if any were held against their will, but I doubt that will be the case. They were put out on the street with carts. If they wanted to leave they could have.”

Mora said those arrested were not employees of the company. He said the company rents carts to vendors and sells ice cream and fruit bars to them. Mora said he does not require that the vendors prove they are U.S. citizens.

“I have no way of determining that,” he said.

Mora said he has often changed locks on doors and fences at the warehouse and garage complex because of a problem with people sleeping on the premises. But he denied that the company knowingly allowed them to sleep inside.

Moschorak disputed Mora’s claim, saying vendors were found sleeping inside the warehouse while the property manager and foreman were there, indicating company approval. He said the U.S. attorney’s office may seek sanctions against the company.