Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted a major worksite enforcement operation at multiple businesses in Minnesota and Nebraska on Wednesday

Agents arrested not only more than 100 illegal workers, but also 14 business owners and managers who allegedly conspired to build a workforce of illegal immigrants

The operation is part of the Trump administration’s efforts to more closely scrutinize businesses that hire illegal immigrants in order to cheat on their taxes or pay below market wages

Federal agents conducted a multi-state worksite raid at several Midwestern agricultural businesses on Wednesday, arresting more than 100 people including owners and supervisors who allegedly conspired to employ illegal aliens at the expense of American workers.

Homeland Security Investigations — the investigative arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement — led the operation against at least 11 companies in Nebraska and Minnesota, The Grand Island Independent reported.

Along with more than 130 suspected illegal workers, agents arrested 14 business owners and managers for allegedly using bogus Social Security numbers to build a workforce of underpaid, exploitable illegal immigrants. Three other people involved in the scheme were also indicted but not taken into custody during the operation.

The operation was one of the largest worksite raids in HSI’s 15-year history, according to Tracy Cormier, the special agent in charge of the agency’s St. Paul field office, which covers Minnesota and Nebraska.

“I would say the amount of criminal warrants that are being executed will be one of the largest for HSI,” Cormier said, according to The Associated Press. “I’m not aware of a bigger one.”

Wednesday’s operation is notable because it targeted business ownership and management, not just illegal workers. Two of HSI’s recent worksite raids, one at a slaughterhouse in Tennessee and one at an Ohio landscaper, nabbed hundreds of illegal immigrants but have not resulted in federal charges against the employers themselves. (RELATED: ICE Arrests More Than 100 In Raid At Ohio Landscaper)

The raids are part of an effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to more closely scrutinize companies that hire illegal immigrants or foreign nationals without proper work authorization. Former Acting ICE Director Thomas Homan said in October 2017 he would make worksite enforcement investigations a priority in the coming year, and the agency appears to have made good on that promise.

Employer audits and investigations into workplace immigration violations have surged in fiscal year 2018, leading to criminal and civil arrests that far exceed the number recorded in the previous year, according to ICE statistics released in May.

There were 2,282 employer audits — known as I-9 audits — opened between Oct. 1 and May 4, according to the ICE data. That was about a 60 percent increase from the 1,360 audits opened between October 2016 and September 2017. Total worksite investigations also spiked in the same period: ICE’s criminal investigators opened more than 3,500 worksite investigations, compared to 1,716 for all of fiscal year 2017.

The operation in Minnesota and Nebraska was the culmination of a 15-month investigation that also involved state and local investigators. Authorities say the suspects knowingly hired illegal immigrants and forced the workers to cash their paychecks at an illegal remittance business for hefty fees. The managers also withheld the workers’ taxes but never paid them to the government.

The illegal arrangement allowed the companies in question to operate at an advantage over other firms who followed immigration and labor law, authorities said.

“The whole investigation was initiated, basically, because we knew that these businesses were cheating these workers and cheating taxpayers and cheating their competition,” Cormier said, according to the AP.

Some of the workers arrested in the operation will be given notices to appear before an immigration judge and released. Those with criminal background will remain in ICE custody.

Search warrants were served at the following businesses, according to ICE:

Christensen Farms with numerous locations in Appleton, Minnesota; Sleepy Eye, Minnesota; and Atkinson, Nebraska;

Elkhorn River Farms in O’Neill, Nebraska

O’Neill Ventures in O’Neill, Nebraska

La Herradura Restaurant in O’Neill, Nebraska

El Mercadito (grocery store) in O’Neill, Nebraska

A private ranch in O’Neill, Nebraska

La Herradura Restaurant in Stromsburg, Nebraska

GJW LLC with three locations in Ainsworth, Nebraska

J.E. Meurets Grain Company in Ainsworth, Nebraska

Herd Co Cattle Company in Bartlett, Nebraska

Long Pine (farm) in Royal, Nebraska.

Follow Will on Twitter

Send tips to will@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.