INS Arrests 233 Suspected Illegal Immigrants at Plant

In one of the largest mass arrests of its kind in the nation, immigration agents raided a shoe manufacturing plant early Thursday and arrested 233 workers believed to be illegal immigrants, officials said.

At 8 a.m., 60 Immigration and Naturalization Service agents surprised workers at the Vans Inc. Orange plant at 2900 Batavia St. INS spokesman John Brechtel said almost all of the arrested employees are suspected Mexican nationals who were working with false documents.

“It’s certainly one of the largest cases we’ve had,” Brechtel said. “When I look at figures nationwide, this . . . is near the top.”

Craig Gosselin, vice president and general counsel for Van’s, strongly denied any wrongdoing and said the company “is still trying to figure out all of the facts.”

“We absolutely do not knowingly employ aliens who are not authorized to work in the United States,” Gosselin said.

The arrested workers account for about 10% of the company’s 2,400 employees, some of whom work at a newer plant in Vista. Most were earning between $4.80 and $6 an hour, authorities said.

The workers, 128 men and 105 women, were taken to the INS district office in Los Angeles where they either voluntarily offered to return to their country or requested a hearing.

The INS began investigating the company’s hiring practices in November. Brechtel said the agency received information from several sources indicating that a large number of people without immigration documents were working in the Orange plant, where the company’s corporate headquarters also are located.

“It is alleged that the documents being presented to the employer were counterfeit, and there is an allegation that someone in the plant was providing them,” Brechtel said.

Gosselin responded: “We are a public company . . . and to our knowledge, none of our employees are involved in anything like that.”