CHICAGO - Eleven illegal alien women from Poland, who worked for a cleaning service here, were arrested yesterday morning by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) special agents.

The 11 Polish women arrested Tuesday were all employed by CleanPol, a service that cleans residences and businesses in the Chicagoland area. All those arrested are illegal aliens who entered the U.S. on visitor visas and remained in the country illegally after these temporary visas had expired. The women are in ICE custody and have been placed into removal proceedings for violating U.S. immigration laws.

ICE initiated the investigation into CleanPol in October 2006 after receiving information that a number of illegal aliens were employed there. Further investigation by ICE revealed that CleanPol, which is operated out of a Glenview residence, employed illegal workers who were picked up in a van each day and driven to various job sites. ICE agents made the arrests after stopping a van at the intersection of Bryn Mawr and Nagle Avenues on Chicago's north side after the driver was observed picking up the Polish workers at several locations.

"ICE aggressively enforces our nation's immigration laws," said Elissa A. Brown, special agent-in-charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Chicago. "As part of our enforcement strategy, ICE arrests illegal workers and seeks criminal charges against employers who knowingly hire illegal workers." Brown oversees a six-state region that includes: Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri and Wisconsin.

During fiscal year 2006, ICE arrested 718 individuals on criminal charges in worksite investigations and apprehended another 3,667 illegal workers on immigration violations, more than a three-fold increase over 2005.

This worksite enforcement operation is part of the Secure Border Initiative (SBI), a comprehensive multi-year plan by the Department of Homeland Security to secure America's borders and reduce illegal migration. Under SBI, Homeland Security seeks to gain operational control of both the northern and southern borders, while re-engineering the detention and removal system to ensure that illegal aliens are removed from the country quickly and efficiently. SBI also involves strong interior enforcement efforts, including enhanced worksite enforcement investigations and intensified efforts to track down and remove illegal aliens inside this country.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently announced a new initiative to help employers ensure they are building legal workforce through voluntary partnerships with the government. Called the ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers (IMAGE), the program is designed to build cooperative relationships between government and businesses to strengthen hiring practices and reduce the unlawful employment of illegal aliens. The initiative also seeks to accomplish greater industry compliance and corporate due diligence through enhanced federal training and education of employers. ICE strongly encourages employers to review IMAGE program materials at http://www.ice.gov.

This is an ongoing investigation.

-- ICE --