Law enforcement agents swarmed a Bartow County flooring manufacturer on Wednesday, the culmination of a monthslong, multiagency labor trafficking investigation.
Agents’ arrival at Wellmade Industries in Cartersville, roughly 40 miles north of Atlanta, sparked confusion among workers, with several attempting to run away or hide, thinking it was an immigration raid, according to a conversation between journalist Mario Guevara with FBI agents at the site.
Present in Cartersville on Wednesday were special agents from Homeland Security Investigations, a division of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the FBI, the Georgia Bureau of Investigations, and the Bartow County Sheriff’s Office.
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Agents executed federal search warrants at Wellmade Industries as well as in a number of residences in Bartow County, according to Lindsay Williams, an ICE spokesperson who spoke to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“This operation specifically focuses on serious allegations of labor trafficking involving foreign nationals and financial crimes tied to the employer’s practices. The owner of Wellmade flooring was arrested on Georgia state charges,” he added in a statement.
Special agents remain on the scene to interview workers and investigate claims involving potential exploitation, Williams said.
According to the FBI, 20 linguists were brought in from across the country to help interview workers. Several trafficking victims have already been identified, they said.
In a livestreamed interview with Guevara, Brian Ozden, assistant special agent in the FBI’s Atlanta division, said there are allegations that Wellmade Industries “is using fraud and coercion to induce Chinese nationals and other immigrants to do work.”
“Nobody should be forced to do labor,” he said. “The FBI is committed to doing what’s right and to keeping people safe.”
In a separate interview, he added that victims were unauthorized immigrants who were underpaid and housed in harsh living conditions.
Chinese nationals were recently at the center of another labor exploitation case in Georgia.
A group of Chinese workers sought law enforcement’s help, alleging that over a month had passed before they were paid for their work at a Savannah warehouse, where they had been loading and unloading trucks. Earlier this year, they were granted hundreds of thousands of dollars in back wages and damages.
A message left at Wellmade Industries was not returned.
According to the company’s website, it specializes in the design and production of hard surface flooring, which it sells to Home Depot, Costco and Floor & Décor, among other retailers. Alongside its Cartersville manufacturing plant, it runs a warehouse and sales offices in Portland, Oregon, where it is headquartered.
The arrival of Wellmade in northwest Georgia, announced in the summer of 2020, was heralded as a boon for economic development that would generate 240 jobs.
— This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Credit: Courtesy of FBI Atlanta
Credit: Courtesy of FBI Atlanta
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