Law enforcement agents swooped in on a local dairy operation yesterday, arresting 13 people on charges they were in the country illegally.

Mike Zimmerman of Sandhills Dairy, located west of Towner, says agents searched every building on his ranch - and even put his son in handcuffs as he came out of a shower.

Zimmerman says the agents threw at least one worker to the ground and demanded to see birth certificates from the workers.

Tim Counts with the U-S Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, says the officers were acting on a criminal search warrant based on leads in an ongoing investigation.

He says their actions were, in his words, "appropriate and fully within the law." Counts says 12 men and one woman were arrested.

He says all were from either Mexico or Guatemala.

Mike Zimmerman says the workers provided documents indicating they were legal residents when they were hired.

We'll have an interview with Zimmerman on K-X News tonight at six. watch the video | save this article / add to your favorites list