By Delayna Earley
The Island News
Five men were arrested during a joint operation conducted between the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) on Thursday, Sept. 25, in Bluffton.
All five men were employees of O’Hara Outdoor SC at 190 May River Road and were charged with identity fraud for collecting wages as an unlawfully present foreign national associated with a fake social security number.
They were booked into the Beaufort County Detention Center and the case will be prosecuted by the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
A spokesperson with the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) said they were present but only assisted with traffic control.
Francisco Ramirez Santiago, 43, Pablo Ramirez Santiago, 46, Arelio Saul Galicia De Leon, 53, Erick Alfons Clavel Gonzalez, 28, and Jose Moreno Romero, 56, are all currently still incarcerated under an ICE hold and a $10,000 surety bond.
SLED and BCSO both currently have a signed agreement under ICE’s 287(g) program that allows for local law enforcement to be trained to enforce immigration laws.
Sources have told The Island News that at least a dozen and possibly as many as 20 more people were detained by ICE, but as of Tuesday afternoon, the exact number is unclear and their location is unknown.
Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
