Seattle desi tech company raided by immigration enforcement

February 23, 2017

Seattle-area cloud company Sysgain on Tuesday was reportedly the subject of an immigration raid — something the official allegedly called a "routine inspection."

The immigration official who was at the scene at the company's Redmond office allegedly made everyone put their cell phones away, told them they weren't allowed to record anything, demanded records and documentation, and questioned why some of the cubicles were empty, according to a Facebook post from someone familiar with the matter.

The official reportedly interrogated the CEO for more than an hour and are demanding the company produce additional documentation, according to that same post. Sysgain is a Microsoft cloud administration partner company that helps companies transition their operations to the cloud.

It’s unclear whether the inspection was completed by an Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent, who target undocumented immigrants and those with deportation orders, or the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which typically tracks compliance for “high tech” H-1B visa programs.

anticipate more orders, more demand for services
Davis Wright Tremaine immigration lawyer Chris Helm expects both types of immigration raids will become more common under President Donald Trump's administration.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly, in a pair of memos signed Tuesday, instructed the agency to begin hiring 10,000 additional ICE agents and 5,000 additional Border Patrol officers.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” Helm said.