INS Garment Plant Raids Net 126 Arrests : Immigration: Sweep of suspected illegals at three factories operated by Just Important People company is one of the largest mass arrests in the county.

Immigration agents simultaneously raided three garment plants Tuesday and arrested 126 workers suspected of being illegal immigrants in what federal officials called one of the largest mass arrests in Orange County in recent years.

At 9 a.m., three dozen Immigration and Naturalization Service agents surprised workers at plants in Fountain Valley and Santa Ana, all operated by the Just Important People company. aThe employees are suspected of being Mexican nationals who were working with false documents, said John Brechtel, assistant district director of operations for the INS.

“It’s unusual for us to make this many arrests from a single employer,” Brechtel said. “We’ve made some fairly large arrests in the garment industry in Los Angeles, but we haven’t seen anything comparable to this in Orange County.”

The arrested workers accounted for two-thirds of the company’s work force. They were taken to the INS district office in Los Angeles where deportation hearings have been initiated.

“Some people have admitted that they are here illegally and are willing to return to their country,” Brechtel said. “But a number of them have requested a hearing before a judge.”

An investigation into the company was launched in May, and INS investigators said they discovered that 206 of 275 employees were working with false documents. Company officials were warned on Sept. 28 to correct the situation, and on Tuesday INS officials obtained a search warrant, Brechtel said.

“We contact the employer, educate them, do an inspection and return with a notice of our results,” Brechtel said. “We identify employees with questionable documents and give an employer a reasonable amount of time to correct the problem. Most employers comply with the law, but in this case they did not.”

The company faces fines of $250 to $2,000 per employee in violation of the employersanctions clause of the 1986 Immigration and Reform Control Act.

Brechtel said they will not face criminal charges unless investigators discover a continuing pattern of hiring illegal workers, a crime which he said carries a six-month jail sentence and fines of up to $3,000 per employee.

One man who identified himself as an officer of the company but refused to give his name said: “It’s a sad, emotional day for our company. It’s a sad day for America when they drive businesses out of the country.”

The jailed employees, 67 men and 59 women, earned between $5 and $8.50 an hour making T-shirts at the three plants, Brechtel said. The company earned $9 million in sales last year.

Brechtel said that working conditions of the plant at 11614 Martens River Circle in Fountain Valley are being investigated but that conditions at the other two plants appeared to be clean and safe. Those plants are located at 10940 Kalama River Road in Fountain Valley and 4050 Chandler Ave. in Santa Ana.