Federal agents execute search warrants at Arizona produce repacking company in visa-fraud and firearms probe
Federal agents executed three criminal search warrants on July 21, 2026, at two sites in Rio Rico and one in Nogales as part of an ongoing federal investigation tied to an Arizona produce repacking company owner. The Labor Department’s inspector general said the coordinated action involved the Office of Inspector General, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Wage and Hour Division. According to the release, the investigation centers on alleged foreign labor visa fraud and federal firearms violations. ([oig.dol.gov](https://oig.dol.gov/public/Press%20Releases/OIG-Press-Release-072126.htm?utm_source=openai))
The inspector general said the subject is the owner of a produce repacking company that employed illegal foreign workers at its facility. It also said agents discovered multiple firearms allegedly possessed by the subject, who is described in the release as a previously convicted felon barred under federal law from possessing firearms. Those are allegations at this stage, not findings of guilt. The search warrants show investigators believed they had enough evidence to move from inquiry to criminal court-authorized searches, but they do not by themselves prove the underlying conduct. ([oig.dol.gov](https://oig.dol.gov/public/Press%20Releases/OIG-Press-Release-072126.htm?utm_source=openai))
The case matters because it pulls together two kinds of enforcement that often travel separately: labor and firearms. Produce operations can depend on fast, low-margin labor arrangements, which is exactly why federal investigators tend to pay close attention when a company is accused of bringing in workers unlawfully or using visa channels improperly. The OIG release does not spell out charges, and it does not say the investigation is over. It does say agents were searching for evidence in a case involving alleged visa fraud, illegal foreign workers, and gun possession by a person investigators say was prohibited from having firearms. ([oig.dol.gov](https://oig.dol.gov/public/Press%20Releases/OIG-Press-Release-072126.htm?utm_source=openai))
The timeline also matters. The official release is dated July 21, 2026, so the searches happened last week relative to that announcement, not at some unspecified earlier point. The release adds that the action was coordinated with Homeland Security Investigations and supported by the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division. For now, the government’s public record shows a search-warrant execution and an active investigation, not a completed case. ([oig.dol.gov](https://oig.dol.gov/public/Press%20Releases/OIG-Press-Release-072126.htm?utm_source=openai))
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