U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Raids Texas Bitcoin Mine, Detains Several Mine Employees

BlockBeats News, September 30: Yesterday, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted a raid on the Lonestar Dream Bitcoin mining farm in Pyote, Texas. Eyewitnesses on the scene reported that multiple government officials were present, including agents from ICE, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). After several individuals failed to provide valid identification, law enforcement officers removed 12 to 13 employees from the site, including several foreign nationals with expired visas.

Pyote and western Texas, in general, have become hubs for Bitcoin miners. By the end of 2024, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had started sporadically detaining and seizing ASIC mining machine imports at ports of entry. In some cases, the CBP would hold the hardware for months, charging affected companies storage fees, without clearly stating the reasons for flagging and detaining the ASICs. The CBP continued to withhold certain shipments after Trump's inauguration, only beginning to release the detained hardware in the first quarter of 2025.