Federal officers detained dozens of immigrant workers at a warehouse in Edison, N.J., on Wednesday in what appeared to be among the largest federal raids in the state since President Trump took office.
The hourslong operation was conducted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, whose officers arrived at the warehouse along a busy stretch of shipping facilities west of New York City about 9 a.m.
The federal officers arrested 29 people, according to the Edison mayor’s office, which said that the township’s Police Department had been notified that the Department of Homeland Security, which runs the customs agency, would be in the area on Wednesday.
The purpose of the operation remained unclear on Wednesday night, and it was unclear if other federal agencies had been involved. The Department of Homeland Security and the Customs and Border Protection agency did not reply to requests for comment.
A Customs and Border Protection spokesperson told Univision that the agency had carried out “a surprise inspection” of the warehouse. The agency also told Univision that the operation was part of routine customs enforcement efforts, not specifically immigration-related, but that officers had checked the immigration status of workers.
The warehouse — where packages were stacked high in a space about the size of a professional football field — handles shipping for major online retailers, distributing packages across the Northeast, three workers told The New York Times.
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The post Federal Agents Detain Dozens of Workers in Raid at New Jersey Warehouse appeared first on New York Times.
