HSI Tampa: ‘More than 100′ detained following immigration raid at Tallahassee construction site

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) - More than 100 people were detained Thursday morning following an immigration raid at a construction site in Tallahassee, according to the Homeland Security Investigations Tampa (HSI Tampa).

Some of those detainees were from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Colombia, Nicaragua and Honduras, “to name a few,” HSI Tampa wrote in a statement to X, formerly known as Twitter, just after 4:15 p.m. Thursday.

HSI Tampa went on to say in its social media post that some of the detainees were previously deported and some held criminal backgrounds.

A WCTV crew on the scene Thursday morning saw more than 50 Florida Highway Patrol troopers assisting with the apparent immigration raid at the large construction site, the Perla, a new student housing development.

People were also seen being lined up and cuffed or zip-tied in the area of Gaines Street near Lake Bradford Road in College Town.

The Leon County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that multiple people detained at the Gaines Street construction site are facing pending criminal charges and they are being brought to the jail, booked in and placed on an ICE hold.

LCSO Spokesperson Shonda Knight said it’s not clear yet how many people will be held at the Leon County Detention Center or what types of charges they’re facing.

The Homeland Security Investigations confirmed to WCTV in a statement Thursday morning that HSI served multiple search warrants in the Tallahassee region:

A WCTV crew on scene said investigators were speaking with every construction worker to confirm who’s a legal citizen and who’s not.

Authorities on the scene told WCTV that federal investigators are leading this effort.

A large bus also arrived at the scene, according to our crew. An HSI spokesman would not comment on how many people boarded those buses or where they were headed at that time.

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A few witnesses were present during the raid.

Amanda Parrish is the wife of a construction worker, who she said was working at the site at the time of the raid. Her husband was taken into custody following the raid, according to her.

She said that by the time she arrived, the immigration raid was actively taking place and authorities were present with their guns drawn, telling the workers to “come down and nobody will get hurt.”

She said that the authorities told the workers they only wanted to take fingerprints and verify the workers’ legal status. Parrish said most of the workers, though, were placed inside a bus.

Parrish said she was very worried that what her husband had was not going to be helpful, as they are waiting on his full citizenship paperwork, saying its “been a while and a lot of things are being cancelled out.”

Larisa Cladakis, who works next door to the construction site, said she also witnessed HSI agents arrive at the scene Thursday morning and tie workers’ wrists with zip ties.

Cladakis said that as a Mexican descendant, she can empathize.

The raid came as a shock in the early morning hours of the capital city. It follows numerous other immigration arrests in and around Tallahassee, as part of the Florida Highway Patrol’s agreement with ICE.

When contacted, leadership at the construction company also seemed surprised that authorities had descended on their sites.

A PR firm representing Hedrick Brothers Construction, the company in charge of the construction site, wrote in a statement to WCTV that they are aware authorities “have taken control of the site.”

This story will be updated as we learn more.

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