South Carolina Fake ID Ring: 48 Immigrants Detained, 6 Indicted After Two-Year Probe
A two-year identity theft investigation led to ICE detaining 48 workers at a South Carolina metal casting plant and six people facing charges, including two company managers.
48 Workers Detained, Plant Managers Arrested in Abbeville Fake ID Operation
Federal and local authorities detained 48 immigrant workers and indicted six people — including two senior managers at a South Carolina manufacturing plant — following a two-year investigation into fake identity documents, ABC News US reports.
Agents raided Burnstein von Seelen Precision Castings in Abbeville on Wednesday, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement taking the workers into custody on alleged immigration violations. The company's plant manager and human resources director were arrested on allegations they knowingly hired immigrants in the country illegally.
State Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the operation at a news conference Thursday. "This is about going after something much larger — a conspiracy of people around South Carolina to steal identities, to create fake Social Security cards, fake driver's licenses, fake immigration documents," Wilson said.
The two managers are expected to appear at Richland County Courthouse in Columbia to face charges of criminal conspiracy and identity fraud to obtain employment. It was not immediately clear whether they had retained legal representation. The remaining four indictees were accused of making and selling false U.S. and state identification documents using information obtained through identity theft.
Burnstein von Seelen, founded in 1985, produces components from copper, brass and bronze alloys. The facility is located in Abbeville County — population approximately 25,000 — in western South Carolina, roughly 90 miles west of Columbia near the Georgia border. Company officials did not immediately respond to messages left by phone and through its website.
ICE said it was reviewing the immigration status of all 48 detained workers, noting that some had previous encounters with the agency and that several had previously been ordered deported.
Wilson said state officials launched the investigation in October 2024, partly out of frustration with what he described as insufficient federal action against fake identification networks under President Joe Biden's administration. That changed when President Donald Trump took office, Wilson said, after which federal authorities joined the state-led probe.
Prosecutor Creighton Waters said investigators approached the case similarly to drug investigations — pursuing not only those using the fraudulent documents but also those producing and distributing them.
Wednesday's raid differed from the broader pattern of Trump administration immigration enforcement. Business-site operations have represented a relatively small share of the wider deportation campaign, and state authorities played the central role in this particular investigation.
The American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina said it was seeking additional information about the detentions and expressed skepticism toward initial government statements, citing what it described as inaccurate characterizations of other ICE operations elsewhere in the country. "The bottom line is that these employees showed up for work, and many of them will not be able to return home to their families," said Jace Woodrum, the organization's executive director. "In other states, we've seen similar actions include gross violations of individual liberties that are guaranteed to all regardless of immigration status."
Authorities said the investigation is ongoing and that additional indictments and arrests remain possible.
Source: ABC News US