Criminal Defense Lawyers

HSI Showed Up at My Workplace – What Do They Want

Last Updated on: 14th December 2025, 10:36 pm

Federal agents just walked into your workplace. They’re wearing tactical gear. They have badges. They’re asking questions. Someone said it’s “HSI” – Homeland Security Investigations. Your first thought is probably immigration. Your second thought is panic. Here’s what you need to understand immediately: HSI is the second-largest federal investigative agency in America. They’re not here about expired visas. They investigate human trafficking, drug smuggling, counterfeiting, cybercrime, terrorism, money laundering, and organized crime. Whatever brought them to your door today is almost certainly more serious than you realize.

Welcome to Spodek Law Group. We handle federal investigations involving HSI regularly. The first thing you need to know is this: everything that happens in the next hour will affect the rest of your life. What you say. What your employees say. What documents you hand over. What statements get recorded. All of it becomes evidence. All of it can be used against you. The agents standing in your workplace have been planning this moment for weeks or months. You have minutes to make decisions that will echo for years.

HSI has over 7,100 special agents operating in 225 cities across America, with international offices in more than 50 countries. They enforce over 400 federal statutes. In fiscal year 2023 alone, they conducted approximately 29,500 criminal investigations that resulted in more than 33,000 arrests, 16,500 indictments, and 11,250 convictions. They seized over $940 million in currency and physical assets. This is not a minor agency conducting routine checks. This is one of the most powerful federal law enforcement operations in the world, and they just showed up at your business.

HSI vs ICE – The Critical Distinction Nobody Explains

Heres the thing most people dont understand. HSI is part of ICE – Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But HSI is NOT the immigration enforcement arm. That’s a different division called ERO – Enforcement and Removal Operations. ERO handles civil immigration enforcement. Deportations. Detention. Administrative arrests. HSI handles criminal investigations. The distinction matters becuase it tells you what your actually facing.

When HSI shows up at your workplace, there conducting a criminal investigation. Not a civil immigration audit. Not a paperwork check. A federal criminal investigation that could result in federal charges, federal indictments, and federal prison. The people being investigated could include business owners, managers, employees, vendors, customers – anyone connected to the activity HSI is investigating.

But heres the paradox that should concern you. HSI does criminal investigations, but when they raid workplaces, the vast majority of people they arrest are detained on civil immigration violations, not criminal charges. In September 2025, HSI conducted the largest single-site workplace raid in DHS history at a Hyundai battery plant in Georgia – 475 people arrested. Most of them were detained on civil immigration grounds, not criminal charges. The criminal investigation continues seperately, targeting the organizers and employers while workers get swept up in administrative detention.

This means HSI uses criminal investigation authority to conduct what often looks like civil immigration enforcement. There not required to explain this distinction to you or your employees. There not required to tell anyone there rights. There relying on confusion and panic to get people talking.

What HSI Actually Investigates

HSI isnt just about immigration. Heres a partial list of what they investigate:

Human trafficking and smuggling. HSI is the lead agency for human trafficking investigations. They’ve rescued thousands of victims – including 82 children from a single trafficking ring in Boston. They put Deshawn King away for 24 years for running a sex trafficking operation that targeted heroin-addicted women. If your business is anywhere near labor supply chains, staffing agencies, or industries with vulnerable workers, HSI may be looking at trafficking connections.

Counterfeiting and intellectual property theft. In 2023, HSI made the largest counterfeit goods seizure in US history – approximately 219,000 fake bags, clothes, shoes, and luxury products with an estimated retail value of $1.03 billion. If your business sells products, imports goods, or operates in any industry with branded merchandise, intellectual property violations could trigger an HSI investigation.

Drug trafficking and money laundering. HSI investigates transnational drug organizations and the money laundering networks that support them. If your business has unusual cash flows, unexplained wire transfers, or connections to businesses that do, you may be connected to a drug investigation without knowing it.

Cybercrime and financial fraud. HSI has specialized cyber units that investigate online fraud, identity theft, and financial crimes. Your business dosent have to be a direct participant – being a victim, a conduit, or an unwitting facilitator can all trigger HSI involvement.

Worksite enforcement. Yes, HSI does investigate employment violations. But the worksite enforcement program uses criminal authority to target employers who knowingly hire unauthorized workers. This isnt about paperwork errors. Its about criminal liability for managers and business owners who knew or should of known.

Todd Spodek has represented clients investigated by HSI for everything from customs violations to fraud schemes. The common thread is this: nobody expects HSI when they arrive. The investigations are often months or years in development before anyone realizes there a target.

Why They Showed Up at YOUR Workplace

HSI dosent show up randomly. Something definately triggered this visit. Understanding what triggered it helps you understand your exposure completly.

Possibility one: I-9 audit. HSI often starts with I-9 audits – reviewing the employment verification paperwork every employer is required to maintain. In fiscal year 2018, HSI initiated 5,981 I-9 audits and opened 6,848 worksite investigations. Thats a 300-750% increase from the previous year. Almost every business has some paperwork problems. An audit that finds violations can escalate to a criminal investigation if HSI believes the violations were knowing and deliberate.

Possibility two: tip or complaint. Someone reported your business. A disgruntled employee. A competitor. A customer. An anonymous tip. HSI investigates complaints, and a credible tip can trigger surveillance, document requests, and eventually a site visit.

Possibility three: connection to a larger investigation. Your business might not be the target. You might be connected to someone who is. HSI works with FBI, DEA, US Marshals, state police, and international agencies. Your business could be one node in an investigation spanning multiple countries. That vendor you buy from. That customer who pays in cash. That staffing agency that supplies workers. Any of them could be the actual target, and your business is being examined for evidence.

Possibility four: pattern recognition. Federal agencies use data analytics to identify suspicious patterns. Unusual shipping volumes. Cash deposits just under reporting thresholds. Supplier relationships that dont make sense. Your business may have triggered algorithmic flags that prompted human investigation.

Heres the uncomfortable truth: by the time HSI shows up, they’ve already gathered significant evidence. There not fishing. There not conducting exploratory interviews. There executing a plan that was developed over weeks or months. The questions there asking aren’t random – there designed to gather specific evidence they need to complete a case.

The Multi-Agency Reality You Need to Understand

OK so heres something that makes HSI investigations particularly dangerous. HSI dosent work alone. They partner with virtually every other federal law enforcement agency – and many state and local ones too.

HSI special agents work alongside the FBI, DEA, US Marshals Service, IRS Criminal Investigation, Secret Service, ATF, and state police departments. They participate in Joint Terrorism Task Forces. They run gang task forces. They lead and participate in operations that span multiple agencies, multiple jurisdictions, and multiple countries.

Think about what this means for your workplace. The HSI agents standing in your lobby may be the visible part of an investigation that involves agencies you never see. The documents there seizing may be shared with prosecutors working cases that have nothing to do with why HSI showed up. The statements your employees make may end up in files at the IRS, the FBI, or the Secret Service.

Heres something else nobody tells you. HSI has offices in over 50 countries. If your business does anything international – importing, exporting, hiring foreign workers, sending wire transfers overseas – your investigation may involve evidence gathered from international partners. That supplier in Asia. That customer in Europe. That payment processor in the Caribbean. HSI has relationships with foreign law enforcement that can turn a local workplace investigation into an international case.

And the investigations take forever. Federal agencies are patient. They build cases slowly. They wait untill there confident before they make moves. In fiscal year 2018, HSI indicted 72 managers in worksite enforcement cases. Those indictments came months or years after the initial workplace visits. The investigation dosent end when the agents leave your building. It often continues for years while you wait, wondering whether your about to be charged.

Weve had clients who thought HSI investigations were over. Months passed. A year passed. They relaxed. Then the indictment came. The investigation never stopped – it just went quiet while prosecutors assembled there case.

Your Rights When HSI Arrives – What Nobody Tells You

When federal agents show up at your workplace, your employees have rights. But HSI isn’t going to explain those rights unprompted. There relying on the fact that most people dont know.

Employees do NOT have to answer questions about immigration status. They dont have to say were they were born, how they entered the country, or anything about there immigration history. They can remain silent. They can ask for an attorney. These are constitutional rights that apply to everyone – citizens and non-citizens alike.

Employees do NOT have to consent to searches. Unless HSI has a search warrant for a specific area, employees can decline to have there personal belongings searched. If agents ask to look in a bag or locker, employees can say no.

Company representatives should NOT give statements without an attorney. This is critical. The natural instinct is to be helpful, to explain, to cooperate. But everything you say becomes evidence. Statements that seem innocuous can be twisted, taken out of context, or used to establish that you knew about violations. Get a lawyer on the phone before you say anything.

If agents have a search warrant, you MUST allow the search. But you should verify the warrant. Is it signed by a judge? Is it within the timeframe specified? What areas and items does it cover? HSI can only search what the warrant authorizes. Document everything. Write down the supervising agents name. Get a copy of the warrant to your attorney immediately.

Attorney-client privileged documents should be flagged. If agents want to examine privileged materials – letters to counsel, legal memoranda – tell them the documents are privileged and request they not be examined until your attorney can review. They may seize them anyway, but you’ve created a record that can be important later.

The problem is that in the chaos of a workplace raid, nobody is thinking about rights. There scared. There confused. There trying to keep there job. And HSI knows this. Thats why having a plan BEFORE agents arrive is so important – and why calling an attorney the moment they arrive is essential.

The Financial Penalties Most People Dont Know About

Heres something that should terrify business owners. HSI workplace enforcement isnt just about criminal charges. There are massive financial penalties that can destroy a business even without a single criminal conviction.

In fiscal year 2018, businesses were ordered to pay more then $10.2 million in judicial fines, forfeitures, and restitutions. HSI also levied another $10.2 million in civil penalties that same year. Thats over $20 million taken from businesses – and most of that came without criminal convictions.

Civil penalties for employment violations start at around $250 per employee for first offenses with paperwork problems. But knowing violations – hiring workers you knew were unauthorized – can reach $2,500 per employee for first offenses. Repeat offenses can hit $25,000 per employee. If you have 50 employees with issues, your looking at potential penalties exceeding a million dollars.

And thats just the direct penalties. HSI can also seize assets. Vehicles used in connection with violations. Bank accounts that received proceeds from illegal activity. Property used to facilitate crimes. Civil asset forfeiture dosent require a criminal conviction – the government can seize assets based on probable cause that they were connected to illegal activity. Then YOU have to prove they werent.

Heres the kicker. Even if no criminal charges are filed, even if no one goes to prison, the financial penalties alone can bankrupt a business. Weve seen companies shut down not because of convictions, but because of fines, legal fees, and the reputational damage of an HSI investigation. Once word gets out that federal agents raided your workplace, customers disappear, suppliers get nervous, and banks start asking uncomfortable questions.

The Cascade That Destroys People

Heres how HSI workplace investigations typically destroy lives. Its not dramatic. Its systematic.

Step one: HSI arrives. Everyone panics. Employees start talking because they think cooperation will help them. There wrong. Everything they say is recorded. Every statement becomes evidence.

Step two: An employee says something that contradicts what another employee said. Or contradicts a document HSI already has. Or contradicts something the employee said earlier. Now there not just a witness. There being investigated for making false statements under 18 USC 1001 – a federal crime carrying up to five years in prison.

Step three: Statements from employees implicate managers. “My supervisor knew.” “The owner told us to do it this way.” “Everyone knew about this.” Suddenly the manager or owner isn’t just dealing with company liability. There facing personal criminal charges.

Step four: HSI finds other violations while investigating. Unreported cash. Tax irregularities. OSHA violations. Licensing issues. What started as one investigation expands. IRS Criminal Investigation gets involved. State agencies get involved. The scope keeps growing.

Step five: Months or years later, indictments come down. People who thought the investigation was over get charged. People who thought they were witnesses become defendants. By then, all the statements made on day one have been analyzed, cross-referenced, and used to build cases.

At Spodek Law Group, weve seen this cascade play out dozens of times. The clients who fare best are the ones who understood from minute one that HSI showing up was the beginning of a criminal investigation, not a routine visit. They got attorneys involved immediatly. They exercised there rights. They refused to let panic drive there decisions.

What You Should Do Right Now

If HSI is at your workplace right now, heres exactly what you should do:

Stop talking. If you’ve already been talking, stop. Tell agents you need to consult with an attorney before answering any more questions. This is your constitutional right. Exercising it is not obstruction. Exercising it is not consciousness of guilt. Its the exercise of rights that exist precisely for moments like this.

Call an attorney immediatly. Not your corporate lawyer. Not your real estate attorney. A federal criminal defense attorney who understands HSI investigations. Call now. Every minute you spend without legal guidance is a minute where evidence is being gathered and statements are being made that could hurt you.

Do NOT interfere with the investigation. If they have a warrant, let them search what the warrant covers. Do not destroy documents. Do not delete files. Do not move evidence. Obstruction of justice is its own federal crime that can be worse then whatever there originally investigating.

Document everything. Write down agents names and badge numbers. Note what time they arrived. Note what areas they searched. Note what questions they asked. Note what documents they took. This information will be critical for your attorney.

Inform employees of there rights – carefully. You can tell employees that they have the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney. You can NOT tell them to refuse to cooperate. Theres a fine line between informing people of there rights and obstructing an investigation. Your attorney can help you navigate this.

Prepare for a long process. HSI investigations take months or years to fully develop. In fiscal year 2018, 72 managers were indicted in worksite enforcement cases – but those indictments came after lengthy investigations. Just becuase agents leave today dosent mean the investigation is over. It probably isnt.

Todd Spodek tells every client in this situation the same thing: the investigation started long before they arrived. Everything that happens from this moment forward determines whether you become a defendant or a footnote. The choice is largely yours.

Call Spodek Law Group at 212-300-5196. Before you answer another question. Before you hand over another document. Before you make a decision you cant take back.

HSI has been planning this visit for months. You have minutes to respond. Get help now.