Police officers raided a Mesa bakery and arrested 28 people.

Police officers raided a Mesa bakery and arrested 28 people. At about 11 a.m. Thursday, July 14, 2011, at least 28 people were arrested in Mesa...

> Police officers raided a Mesa bakery and arrested 28 people. At approximately 11 a.m. Thursday, July 14, 2011, at least 28 people were arrested when Maricopa County executed an emergency search warrant at a bakery in Mesa. Officials said 31 people are suspected of entering the country illegally and using false identification documents, mainly social security cards, to gain employment at the bakery on the border of Country Club and Southern. "These people who provided false identities, this is a level 4 felony," said the person in charge of the raid. About 50 to 60 employees were working in the bakery when the raid was conducted. At 3:00 p.m., the Sheriff confirmed that 28 of them had been arrested. The Sheriff's Office is still investigating and has determined that 26 of the people were in the country illegally. Two others arrested were U.S. citizens, but this has not yet been confirmed. The Sheriff's Office has not commented for the past two and a half months on how the agency's investigators tipped off the mill. The agency's raids have drawn mixed reviews from citizens across Arizona. The man in charge reiterated the aim of the operation was to combat identity fraud and denied he was being targeted by racial profiling. "We are number one in the country in cracking down on false identity cases." "All I have to do is enforce the law and we have proven that the employer knew full facts and willingly hired them." It is unclear what charges the employer at the bakery will face. The operation's office has only three employees and has conducted 48 surprise inspections in the past three years. The person in charge of the operation said, "I feel like I am doing something for the president and to restore the economy, because we have too many people who are unemployed." At present, the personal circumstances of the arrested persons have not been finalized. (News from The Arizona Republic)