Federal agents search Phoenix-area stores in financial investigation

• Federal agents in metro Phoenix executed 19 search warrants targeting various businesses, including gas stations and smoke shops, as part of a financial investigation.
• ICE spokesperson Yasmeen Pitts O’Keefe said the investigation, led by Homeland Security Investigations, involved a “significant amount of data” and declined to provide further details.
• Immigrants’ rights advocates expressed concern, suggesting the investigation appeared to target immigrant communities and communities of color.

Federal agents interviewed employees and searched gas stations, carnicerias and smoke shops, among other businesses, in metro Phoenix on Tuesday as part of a financial investigation, drawing concern from immigrants’ rights advocates.

In all, 19 search warrants were executed, said Yasmeen Pitts O’Keefe, a spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She said the investigation was led by Homeland Security Investigations, a division of ICE.

Pitts O’Keefe said a “significant amount of data” needed to be analyzed, so no further information about the investigation would be made immediately available by her agency.

Viri Hernandez, executive director of the grassroots nonprofit Poder In Action, visited several businesses that were searched and spoke to owners and employees who were questioned. Her group informed people about their rights and distributed signs for business owners to post that read “Attention Law Enforcement, Do Not Enter Without A Signed Judicial Warrant,” she said.

“It looks like they are going after immigrant communities and communities of color where money orders are sent from,” Hernandez said.

Hernandez said she had not spoken to anyone who was asked about their immigration status.

Alex Tristan said that as he came to work at the 76 gas station at the corner of 33rd Avenue and Buckeye Road in Phoenix about noon, he found it surrounded by yellow tape and was approached by agents.

“They wouldn’t let me go in, and they wouldn’t tell me what the investigation was about,” he said. “So I waited outside for about two hours.”

Tristan said agents interviewed a woman who runs a money transfer business inside the station.

Pitts O’Keefe did not know as of late Tuesday afternoon if there had been any arrests as part of the investigation.

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