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ICE has uncovered a massive identity theft scheme led by illegal immigrants and possibly tied to organized criminal networks following a workplace raid at a meatpacking plant in Omaha.
According to an ICE statement, approximately 70 illegal aliens working at the plant were discovered to be using stolen Social Security numbers and identities to unlawfully obtain employment authorization, wages and benefits at the expense of over 100 victims. The statement said that the victims have faced “devastating financial, emotional and legal consequences” as a result of the identity theft.
Working with other federal and state partners, ICE agents conducted a major workplace raid at Glenn Valley Foods in Omaha on June 10. The raid resulted in over 70 illegal immigrants being arrested, which sparked protests both in the community and across the country.
While the arrests have sparked outrage from some in both the local community and nationally, ICE said the illegals’ identity theft proves they were not innocent, hardworking members of society, as some have suggested.
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Another ICE representative told Fox News Digital that the illegal aliens who were apprehended at Glenn Valley Foods were behind the crime and that “some may have used organized criminal networks” to carry out the crime.
The representative said that the investigation is still ongoing and that the exact number of individuals impacted is still unknown.
The ICE spokesperson pointed to a few examples of those victimized by the apprehended illegals’ identity theft scheme.
The spokesperson said a disabled person in Texas, who was unable to work, struggled to get their Social Security disability payments because an illegal alien was fraudulently using their identity and earning wages at Glenn Valley Foods.
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Another victim in Colorado received a notice from the IRS to repay more than $5,000 after their income was falsely increased due to an illegal alien using their identity to work at the plant.
In Missouri, a full-time nursing student lost their college tuition assistance because it was fraudulently reported that they earned too much money due to an illegal alien at Glenn Valley Foods using their Social Security number.
Another person living in California has had to work for nearly 15 years to regain their identity and fix the financial damage done by an illegal who was working at Glenn Valley Foods, according to the spokesperson.
Mark Zito, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations Kansas City, which covers Omaha, said in a statement emailed to Fox News Digital that “the criminals who stole these identities didn’t just break the law, they upended lives.”
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“There have been individuals who have gone on the record recently referring to the identity thieves we arrested last week as ‘good, hardworking, and honest,’” he said. “These so-called honest workers have caused an immeasurable amount of financial and emotional hardship for innocent Americans. If pretending to be someone you aren’t in order to steal their lives isn’t blatant, criminal dishonesty, I don’t know what is.”
“These victims aren’t faceless statistics; they’re real people who are being denied healthcare and have lost educational opportunities,” added Zito.
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