INS detains more than 80 suspected illegal immigrants in Valdez

ANCHORAGE (AP) -- More than 80 suspected illegal immigrants were apprehended in Valdez this week after federal immigration investigators responded to tips involving three seafood processors there.

Eight agents with the Immigration and Naturalization Service reviewed employment records of Sea Hawk Seafoods, Nautilus Foods and Peter Pan Seafoods Inc., INS district director Robert Eddy said Friday.

Eddy said Peter Pan's paperwork complied with immigration regulations. However, the other companies hired Mexican workers with counterfeit alien registration forms, according to Eddy. He said work documents were missing in some cases.

Thirty-two of the workers were apprehended offsite, released on their own recognizance and scheduled for deportation hearings, Eddy said.

INS agents found 57 suspected illegal immigrants at Sea Hawk, which agreed to terminate them, Eddy said. Of those, however, 49 workers refused to vacate the company bunkhouse.

Those workers were transferred to Anchorage Friday. Eddy said those with no criminal records or immigration histories would be released on their own recognizance and scheduled for deportation hearings.