ABBEVILLE COUNTY, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - A warehouse manager who was inside the Burnstein Von Seelen facility when federal agents conducted an immigration raid said workers screamed and tried to hide as dozens of agents moved through the plant with guns drawn.Randy Linsenbigler, a warehouse manager who has worked at Burnstein Von Seelen in Abbeville for nearly 30 years, said he had no idea what was coming Wednesday morning.“I didn’t know what was going on. I heard people screaming. Then I saw some girls coming running towards me like four or five of them and I’m like what is going on. So I walked into the machine shop and there’s 50-60 agents in there with guns drawn and tactical formation coming down through there,” Linsenbigler said.ICE detained 48 workers for alleged immigration violations and arrested two managers as part of Operation Ghost Story. The two managers now face multiple charges, including identity fraud to obtain employment. Linsenbigler is not one of the two managers who were charged.‘Are you going to shoot me?’Linsenbigler said agents moved quickly, detaining dozens of people, including him.“He had a gun and he pointed it at me like that. He said ‘you are putting those cuffs on’ and I looked at him like ‘are you going to shoot me?’ and I stuck my arms out there like that,” Linsenbigler said. “I’ve never seen nothing like that in my life. That’s the only time I’ve ever had a gun pointed at me in my life.”Investigators say they spent more than 18 months planning the operation, starting in the fall of 2024. Linsenbigler said the way it was carried out went too far.“It was just total chaos, panic, fear, everything,” Linsenbigler said. “When I saw the girls, the terror in their eyes and the places they were trying to climb up to and hide. It’s just — it could have been done a lot different.”“Certain agents were way more aggressive than others, but of course all their faces were covered up, you can’t see them,” Linsenbigler said.Production floor now a ‘ghost town’Burnstein Von Seelen has operated in Abbeville since 1985, making precision casting parts for customers around the world, including General Electric. Burnstein employs more than 200 workers.Linsenbigler said many workers are too scared to come back after Operation Ghost Story, and the production floor has turned into a ghost town.“It’s dead. It’s dead. We went from having 100 employees to we might have had 24 working there today,” Linsenbigler said. “It’s sad. It could have been done in a way more humane way.”On Monday, Abbeville County Council met for the first time since the raid, but no one spoke about it during public comment.Attorney General Alan Wilson and the Eighth Circuit Solicitor have defended the operation. Wilson says managers knowingly hired illegal immigrants to work at the plant and forged federal immigration documents and Social Security cards.The investigation remains ongoing.MORE NEWS:Feel more informed, prepared, and connected with FOX Carolina. For more free content like this, download our apps.Copyright 2026 WHNS. All rights reserved.