Three teenagers unlawfully employed at the sites were rescued.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 38 illegal immigrants, including convicted criminals, from multiple construction sites during a targeted enforcement operation, the agency said in a Feb. 24 statement.
The illegal immigrants were arrested from construction sites in El Paso, Texas, and Santa Teresa, New Mexico, during a nine-day operation between Jan. 11 and 19 carried out by ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations El Paso and local law enforcement partners.
“Among those arrested were four individuals charged with felony illegal reentry and two ICE fugitives with final orders of removal,” ICE said.
“Officers also encountered and rescued three illegal alien children, ages 15, 16, and 17, who were unlawfully employed at various construction sites. ICE transferred them to Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement’s custody.”
Out of the 38 illegal immigrants, eight had criminal histories. One individual had been convicted of assault causing bodily injury to a family member. Another was convicted for failing to identify as a fugitive, the agency said.
In addition to ICE, other departments that took part in the operation include Border Patrol, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Texas Department of Public Safety.
“We will continue to aggressively pursue criminal investigations and enforce immigration laws to preserve national security and public safety,” said Joel Garcia, ICE El Paso acting field office director.
“These ongoing, routine enforcement operations and arrests underscore ICE’s unwavering commitment to holding accountable those who violate U.S. immigration law and threaten the safety of our communities.”
In September 2025, around 450 workers, several of them from South Korea, were detained by federal authorities during an immigration enforcement operation after they were found to be working at Hyundai’s Georgia complex.
At the time, Steven Schrank, the special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations for Georgia, said this operation was the “largest single-site enforcement operation in the history of Homeland Security Investigations.”
On April 15, 2025, ICE announced the arrest of more than 1,000 illegal immigrant workers in the United States who did not have employment authorization.
