PLAINFIELD, Ind. (WTHR) - An Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation led to more than a dozen people being arrested in Plainfield.
Officers were at three Mexican Restaurants Tuesday afternoon, where they took 13 men and two women into custody.
Six Mexican nationals were charged and released. Four of them were charged with immigration violations, two were already in removal proceedings.
Eight individuals - 6 from Mexico and one each from Guatemala and El Salvador - remain in custody. One has a final order of removal (deportation order), four were previously removed (illegally re-entering the U.S. is a federal felony), two were at-large criminal aliens (convictions include DUI and battery) and one was a recent visa overstay.
One person was released without charges.
Shawn Neudauer, a public affairs officer with ICE, said agents went to the business looking for a known criminal alien fugitive. All individuals arrested will likely face deportation proceedings.
Neudauer would not confirm the exact locations of their operation, but say all of the restaurants are under the same ownership. Employees of nearby businesses say they saw law enforcement around the same time at El Meson and Bravo's on East Main Street and Iguana's on North Dan Jones Road.
Tuesday after the operation, each of the restaurants closed but were at least partially reopened on Wednesday.
Management at neither location would speak on the record to Eyewitness News.