VENTURA : Border Patrol Arrests 6 in Factory Sweep

U. S. Border Patrol agents arrested six illegal immigrants Wednesday morning during an impromptu sweep of a Ventura ice cream factory, authorities said.

Responding to an anonymous telephone tip, two agents from the Border Patrol’s Camarillo office entered Sam’s Ice Cream, 1932 Eastman Ave., where 13 illegal immigrants were reported to be working.

After receiving permission from the factory’s owner, Sam Leggett, to interview workers, the agents entered the building and saw several people scatter, the agents said. Four men were found hiding inside a freezer and were arrested along with two other workers who failed to produce work authorization documents, Senior Border Patrol Agent Neil Jensen said.

“The employers would not have had knowledge that they were illegal,” Jensen said. “They presented (employers with) false documents.”

The six were temporarily held at the Border Patrol offices at Camarillo Airport before they were transported to a larger facility in Los Angeles.

They are entitled to a deportation hearing, but all volunteered to return to their native Mexico or countries in Central America, Jensen said.

“They know re-entry will be easy,” he said. “Most often, they will be back in the same area within a few weeks.”

The Border Patrol’s Camarillo office has a foot-high stack of suspected illegal immigrant reports, but with only five agents to perform sweeps, they will never be able to check them all out, Jensen said.