ICE Operation Nets 18 Arrests

HOUSTON - About 100 police officers stormed a north Houston flea market, arresting 18 people accused of trafficking in fraudulent documents.

The horse-trading came to a halt around 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon at the Tia Rancha Flea Market on Airline Drive, once the unmarked white box truck pulled up.

“A whole bunch of cops just came out of nowhere,” said Jerson Hernandes, “and started bossing everybody around to get out of here. And they started pinning down people and arresting them.”

Officers and agents from local, state and federal agencies lined up and hauled away one suspect after another.

One of those who says he was detained but not arrested was Carlos Perez, who operates a small shoe store in the flea market.

“I was talking on my phone,” recalled Perez, “and he just come and grab me and throw me to the van and started shaking me, everything. But because it was hot, the van is hot, so they put my hands on the van and I get burned, you know?”

He held out his hands, which he said he’d covered with toothpaste to quell the burns.

The round-up lasted a little over an hour.

By the end, the Department of Homeland Security’s Document and Benefit Fraud Task Force reported arresting 18 people.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent would not provide specifics about the allegations against the suspects.

But Acting Special-Agent-in-Charge Michael Feinberg said, “in general, folks will either buy, make or procure phony documents, whether it's a social security card, driver's license.”

Or a visa, or a passport.

The suspects face up to 10 years of federal prison time – or more, if it can be proven that the document fraud aided terrorism or drug trafficking.

No sooner did the police pull up stakes, Saturday afternoon, than the buyers poured back in to the flea market.

Jerson Hernandes was eager to get back in; his mother works there.

“Your mom didn’t get arrested did she?” FOX 26 News asked Hernandes.

“Naw, hopefully not,” he replied, before admitting with a chuckle, “I don't know. My phone is off.”

By Saturday evening, the defendants were being processed at Houston’s federal detention center.

FOX 26 News is told that the process identifies any illegal immigrants, who then could be subject to deportation.