ICYMI - ICE Raid in Kings Mountain
Kings Mountain is NC Congressman and former NC House Speaker Tim Moore's hometown
In case you missed it, near the end of last month, there was an immigration raid in an area to the west of Charlotte.
For those unaware, Kings Mountain is former NC Speaker of the House and current Congressman Tim Moore's literal backyard.
According to a press release by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a federal search warrant was executed at Buckeye Fire Equipment Company on June 25 as part of "an active, ongoing criminal investigation."
30 illegal aliens were arrested/detained during the worksite enforcement operation in Kings Mountain. The initial number ICE gave was 16 people detained, which rose to 28 and again to 30 the day after the event.
Suspects were arrested for various crimes including aggravated identity theft, meaning they were using fake or stolen IDs and social security numbers.
ICE also said two other subjects were arrested on "state charges" and that "numerous documents were seized" in the investigation, which is ongoing.
The Kings Mountain Police Department assisted in the operation, per WBTV.
Click here to see a short video of ICE agents and other law enforcement serving the search warrant at Buckeye Fire Equipment.
More To The Story
As of this week, eight of the 30 taken into custody had a federal court hearing on July 8. A list of names for those individuals has been hard to track down.
Seven of the eight have been charged with reentering the country illegally after being deported at least once in the past.
The eighth person, Jose De La Cruz-Lopez, has been charged with misusing a social security number and issuing a false statement or using a false document in an immigration proceedings. Records show he’s being held in the Caldwell County jail.
WSOC-TV has an extended report on the current standing of these individuals as well as an account of De La Cruz-Lopez’s wife asking the judge to allow her husband to be released while awaiting trial.
In related illegal immigration crime news, the Triangle Trumpet has an update on one of the four illegal alien siblings who were involved in the murder of Wake County Deputy Ned Byrd in 2022.
One of them, Alder Marin Sotelo, has agreed to plead guilty to a charge of "conspiracy to assist or instigate escape.” He successfully escaped from a Virginia jail in 2023 and made it over the border into Mexico.
That stay in Mexico didn’t last long. He was recaptured in Mexico and extradited back to the U.S. along with almost 30 other wanted criminals, per the U.S .Dept. of Justice.
Read more over at Triangle Trumpet:
