In western South Carolina, pretty close to the Georgia line, there is a metal casting manufacturing plant. The Burnstein von Seelen Precision Casting facility does all sorts of stuff in various metals, and is proud that it ‘is the only ISO Certified copper based permanent mold facility in North America.’ The company website displays the logos of a number of well-known clients, such as General Electric, Siemens, and General Dynamics.
And they have their standards when it comes to their products.
All Burnstein von Seelen alloys are prepared from virgin materials. This makes our metals far superior to commercial copper and copper base alloys. Our metallurgical expertise and inspection processes assure the highest quality metals.
According to the results of a two-year-long federal investigation, managers at the plant were not as picky when it came to the particulars of the help they hired. And it doesn’t appear to have been as if one or two had simply slipped through a screening loophole, judging by the number of employees escorted off the property last Wednesday (Not to mention those who vanished).
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), along with local law enforcement, acted on what they’d learned during that lengthy time digging into a large identity theft operation.
They finally raided the plant.
A two-year investigation into immigrants with fake identity documents led to federal officials detaining 48 workers at a South Carolina metal casting business and six people facing state charges, including two top managers at the plant, authorities announced Thursday.
Dozens of officials with federal and local law enforcement agencies raided Burnstein von Seelen Precision Castings in Abbeville on Wednesday.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers took the workers into custody on alleged immigration violations, and the company’s plant manager and human resources director were arrested on allegations they knowingly hired immigrants in the U.S. illegally, state Attorney General Alan Wilson said at a news conference.
The company officials were indicted by a state grand jury, along with four other people accused of making and selling false U.S. and state identifications using information from identity thefts.
“We want to send a message that this isn’t about going after people who are trying to feed their family,” Wilson said. “This isn’t going after companies or businesses who unknowingly hiring illegal. This is about going after something much larger, you know, a conspiracy of people around South Carolina to steal identities, to create fake Social Security cards, fake driver’s license, fake immigration documents.”
Yeah, this isn’t at all about taking poor Juana off the assembly line, who’s just trying to keep food on the table. It’s arresting her for screwing up some poor, unsuspecting, hardworking American citizen‘s life, because Juana (or José or Tsing Chao, whoever) has stolen their social security and other information. It can be a never-ending nightmare for an American caught up in an identity theft snare.
The state attorney general says in some of these instances fraudsters were literally using two or three stolen identities at a time because they ‘hadn’t gotten the paperwork right the first time.’
🚨 SOUTH CAROLINA AG EXPOSES MASSIVE EMPLOYMENT FRAUD RING USING STOLEN IDENTITIES🚨
Attorney General Alan Wilson revealed two managers not only failed to verify employee IDs but actively helped workers use forged identities to get hired — sometimes hiring the same person 2 or 3… pic.twitter.com/geT23R00gS
— And We Know©🇺🇸 (@andweknow) June 10, 2026
Holy crap.
Naturally, this matters not a whit to immigration advocates, who immediately added it as an additional sin to their national anti-ICE crusade language.
WAAH WAAH ICE
…The American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina said it was seeking more information about the detention of the immigrant workers. It also expressed skepticism in general about initial government statements about ICE operations, because of what it called incorrect descriptions about other immigration enforcement actions around the country.
“The bottom line is that these employees showed up for work, and many of them will not be able to return home to their families,” said Jace Woodrum, the group’s executive director, in a statement. “In other states, we’ve seen similar actions include gross violations of individual liberties that are guaranteed to all regardless of immigration status.”
The two managers were arrested for ‘facilitating’ the fraud by failing to verify anyone’s documents. A convenient case of benign neglect, I guess.
…Two managers at Burnstein von Seelen Precision Casting, a metal mold casting plant in Abbeville, were arrested on charges of criminal conspiracy, identity fraud to obtain employment, and forgery.
The state alleges Christopher Douglas Ramey and Sandy Lynn Willis “knowingly facilitated the use of fraudulent identification by illegal immigrants they employed” by failing to verify the legitimacy of employees’ IDs before hiring them.
Another plant manager, who was not arrested in the raid, has himself a bad case of, ‘Where’d everybody go?‘
He’s pretty put out by the whole thing and doesn’t seem the least bit upset to find out his cheap help was stealing the IDs of his fellow Americans. He’s just bent out of shape the feds took everyone and upset the apple cart.
🚨WOW!!!
A plant manager in South Carolina who had his business raided by ICE says the entire production line is now, “A GHOST TOWN” and no one is showing up to work anymore.
“We went from having 100 employees to 24, it’s sad.”
He says illegal immigrant women were trying to… pic.twitter.com/Hpq19OkcAC
— Matt Van Swol (@mattvanswol) June 9, 2026
…He says illegal immigrant women were trying to climb IN THE ROOF RAFTERS to hide from ICE.
In all, 48 illegal immigrants were detained + 2 of the American employers who are charged with stealing the identity of REAL Americans to forge work documents for nearly 50 illegal immigrants.
What a gem of a guy.
Astonishing. pic.twitter.com/wqNBzh2RC0
— Sean Kelly 🪓 (@skenzyme) June 9, 2026
He seems to feel that someone should be sorry for inconveniencing him.
Four of the six individuals who are facing state charges are the people who allegedly did the document manufacturing and acquisition for the rest of the workers.
This tight little group of plant employees seemed to have everything they needed taken care of in-house.
And if you want something else to make you even a little madder about the whole situation, it turns out the group of investigators working this case tried to get the Biden administration moving on it, but no takers.
Gee. Imagine that. What were the odds, and how much more damage was done in the interim by these fraudsters?’
…The state alleges the four other defendants in the indictment were “document vendors” who obtained forged state driver’s licenses, U.S. Social Security cards, or other fake identification for people who are illegally living in the country to use.
The investigation, dubbed operation “Ghost Story,” began in the fall of 2024, officials said.
Waters, the prosecutor in this case, said that he was approached by SLED agents who were frustrated that they didn’t have the federal support under former President Joe Biden to carry out immigration enforcement against individuals using falsified documents.
With President Donald Trump retaking office in 2025, Wilson said those federal priorities have shifted.
“I do believe the priorities of the current administration are much more geared toward local collaboration with federal partnerships, whether 287(g) was directly involved with that, I don’t know,” Wilson said.
Many county sheriff’s offices across the state partner with ICE to help the agency facilitate immigration arrests through the 287(g) program.
The Attorney General’s Office emphasized the collaboration with federal, state, and local partners to carry out the investigation and the raid, including several surrounding county sheriff’s offices – including Abbeville, Greenwood, Newberry and Greenville.
By the moaning manager’s count, there are now 76 job openings for Americans at the plant, as well as possibly some managerial positions.
Nearly 50 immigrants detained by ICE in two-year, South Carolina fake ID probe https://t.co/fDUPVCQkPl pic.twitter.com/EetTXpgVGx
— New York Post (@nypost) June 4, 2026
Or there should be once the company starts answering the phone again.
At the moment, according to the NY Post, it seems as if they’re a little skittish.
Editor’s Note: We voted for mass deportations, not mass amnesty. Help us continue to fight back against those trying to go against the will of the American people.
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