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

September 30th: The day before yesterday, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out a raid on the Lonestar Dream Bitcoin mining farm located in Pyote, Texas. Eyewitnesses at the scene stated that a large number of 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 present valid identification, law enforcement officers removed 12 to 13 employees from the site, among whom there were several foreign nationals with expired visas. Pyote and western Texas in general have become important hubs for Bitcoin miners. By the end of 2024, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) began sporadically detaining and seizing ASIC mining machine imports at ports of entry. In some cases, the CBP would hold the hardware for several months, charging the affected companies storage fees without clearly stating the reasons for flagging and detaining the ASICs. After Trump's inauguration, the CBP continued to withhold certain shipments and only started releasing the detained hardware in the first quarter of 2025.