U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other partners took to South Carolina’s highways in May as part of a nationwide crackdown on unsafe and illegal drivers.
The agencies made 114 arrests for immigration and criminal violations and seized illegal drugs and cash in two separate law enforcement operations.
Operation Safe Drive and Operation Rubber Duck, took place May 12-14 and netted major arrests.
- 114 criminal and administrative arrests.
- 10 kilograms of cocaine seized with an estimated value of $200,000.
- 145 vehicle stops and 77 inspections.
- 89 citations for traffic and safety violations.
- 22 drivers and vehicles removed from service.
Both ICE and law enforcement partners targeted commercial vehicles, fraudulent truck drivers, illegal operator licenses, and immigration violations.
The roadway enforcement comes as foreign-born truckers and illegal immigrant drivers suspected of driving drunk have been involved in traffic fatalities across the country.
“By working together, we are able to protect South Carolina families from the threats posed by criminal activity and unsafe drivers,” said ERO Atlanta Field Office Director LaDeon Francis.
Operation Safe Drive involved several agencies working along Interstate 26, a major thoroughfare that runs through Charleston, Columbia and Spartanburg.
ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, along with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the State Transit Police, the Duncan Police Department near Spartanburg and local police departments were involved in both operations.
ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations led Operation Rubber Duck, targeting fraudulent commercial driver’s license holders, individuals with illegal operator licenses, and over-the-road truck drivers along I-85 near Greer.
“Operation Rubber Duck underscores that Homeland Security Investigations and our partners will aggressively pursue, disrupt and dismantle criminal networks that threaten our communities,” said Mark M. Zito, the special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in North and South Carolina.
State officials announce fake document probe at business employing illegal immigrants, more than 50 arrested
State and federal officials announced another major immigration bust in South Carolina in early June. More than 50 people were arrested following a two-year investigation into immigrants with fake identity documents working at a metal casting business.
The State Grand Jury indicted six people on criminal charges, while 48 workers at the Burnstein von Seelen Precision Castings in Abbeville were detained by federal immigration agents.
The company’s plant manager and human resources director were arrested on allegations they knowingly hired immigrants in the U.S. illegally, state Attorney General Alan Wilson said at a news conference per the Associated Press.
Officials said they were going after the people suspected of selling them false papers for hiring purposes. Four people were charged with forgery and identity fraud for allegedly creating and selling false documents to workers who needed them, the South Carolina Daily Gazette reported.
“This is about going after something much larger, you know, a conspiracy of people around South Carolina to steal identities, to create fake Social Security cards, fake driver’s license, fake immigration documents,” Wilson said.
Authorities said the investigation is continuing, and more indictments and arrests were possible.
State officials launched the probe in October 2024, after local law enforcement officers reported the allegations of identity fraud and the business employing illegal workers to the state attorney general’s office.
Local police were frustrated over the rampant false identifications and identity theft under President Joe Biden’s administration, Wilson said.
The city and county of Abbeville are not among the 42 police and sheriff’s departments that have signed onto the ICE partnership, called 287(g) agreements.
Wilson said the investigation is “not a political issue at all,” and the state would have pursued the operation either way, he said.
ICE is processing the 48 workers arrested with the intention of deporting anyone who lacks the proper paperwork to live in the country. Most of the workers came from Guatemala or Mexico, said Maria Somers, assistant field office director for ICE.
The attorney general’s office investigated the case the way it would a drug bust with the help of undercover work and witnesses, said Creighton Waters, chief attorney overseeing the State Grand Jury.
“It’s so easy for people to get those, so that’s the problem that we needed to fight,” Waters said.
The false documents often listed real Social Security and driver’s license numbers, which constitutes identity fraud, he said.
“This investigation is not about targeting hard-working people that are just trying to put food on the table, but we cannot ignore identity theft,” Waters said. “We cannot ignore blatant violations of the law.”
