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Politics

ICE Conducts 'Slurpee Raids' on South Florida 7-Elevens

January 13, 2018 - 6:00am

As part of a nationwide investigation into the employment legality of workers, the Trump administration this week instigated a concentrated effort targeting 7-Eleven convenience stores. Five locations in South Florida have been visited, as well as two others in the Vero Beach area, part of a larger nationwide effort.

The Dade stores were located in Homestead and Miami Beach, and two more in Broward County, at Davie and Fort Lauderdale; one additional store was visited in West Palm Beach. These Florida searches did not lead to arrests, but the message of one company becoming targeted with searches by immigration officials is being delivered.

While not raids specifically, agents arrived to conduct "compliance inspections." This would involve interviewing on-site workers and investigating employment records to verify the status of the staffs. The Florida locations were just some of the nearly 100 7-Eleven locations that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were looking into. This makes for the largest such investigation of an employer by the Trump administration.

So far. 

In a message meant for businesses the inspections have been described as “a harbinger of what’s to come” by one administration official, Derek Benner. The acting head of ICE division of Homeland Security Investigations stated, “This is what we’re gearing up for this year, and what you’re going to see more and more of -- these large-scale compliance inspections.”

The acting director of ICE had even more stern language to deliver. “(These) actions send a strong message to U.S. businesses that hire and employ an illegal workforce: ICE will enforce the law, and if you are found to be breaking the law, you will be held accountable,” said the agency’s top official. “ICE will continue its efforts to protect jobs for American workers by eliminating unfair competitive advantages for companies that exploit illegal immigration.”

While no arrests were conducted this week, Florida has seen a sharp rise in illegal immigrants incarcerated this year after four consecutive years of those numbers dropping. 2016 saw less than 5,000 such arrests, but last year that total nearly doubled as the Trump administration has been enforcing the law more stridently. 

In response the parent company, which operates or licenses more than 56,000 stores globally, issued a release that supported the immigration laws. “7-Eleven takes compliance with immigration laws seriously,” said the statement, insisting the company “has terminated the franchise agreements of franchisees convicted of violating these laws.”

“We will look at whether these cases warrant an administrative posture or criminal investigation,” said Benner, indicating how the Trump administration will continue to increase the pressure on corporations to become compliant with immigration law.

Brad Slager is a Fort Lauderdale freelance writer who wrote this story exclusively for Sunshine State News. He writes on politics and the entertainment industry and his stories appear in such publications as RedState and The Federalist.

Comments

All the noise re: treatment of illegal immigrants is just noise meant to distract from the fact that illegal immigrants how no rights in this country. I think everyone can agree that the legal path to citizenship has been and is broken. I think that fact has contributed to the influx of illegal immigration over the past years until we are in the middle of a crisis that is over burdening our local resources to the point where we are unable to adequately service our legal citizens let along illegals. Liberals want rights for illegal immigrants with the ultimate goal of making them citizens eligible to vote as a block for the lefties. The Republicans want cheap labor. No matter what each side verbalizes, the real reason for why nothing gets done to solve this problem is what I've just stated. We must hold our politicians accountable until they come up with a legal solution to this problem. If we don't fix it under President Trump, we'll never again have another opportunity to do so. If we lose the rule of law in this country, we lose our country. People come here in part because they can trust that our rule of law works. The left continues to fight our rule of law by trying to go around the legal method to make changes in this country. As citizens, we have to fight this anarchy every day. This endeavor has nothing to do with racism or any other label the left tries to hang on American citizens who love their country. We can fix this legally to the betterment of everyone. Stay strong.

I am in support of what the Trump administration is doing. If anyone is here illegally they should be arrested and deported and banned from ever returning to the country. I am quite frankly sick and tired of folks wanting to reward breakers of the law. My mom came here as a servant in the 60's and worked here way towards receiving an alien card and ultimately US citizenship. She was then able to file for her kids. That is the proper way to achieve the right to stay in this country. Hence, I cannot support illegal activity. We have to stop the bleeding.

from her website -- Gwen on immigration Gwen understands that Florida is stronger because of our diversity. She supports comprehensive immigration reform and a pathway to citizenship. In Congress, she voted against extreme Republican bills attacking immigrants — including legislation to roll back President Obama’s DAPA and DACA, which give legal status to DREAMERS and their families. Gwen is the granddaughter of a Syrian-Lebanese refugee and believes we have a moral obligation to help those fleeing violence and persecution. She has personally met with Syrian refugees in Egypt. In Congress, she supported legislation that would certify the refugee screening process — and strongly opposes any effort to ban refugees.

Thank you for your info. I will not vote for her. I will vote GOP for Govoner to keep our taxes low.

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