The US government on Thursday signalled an aggressive crackdown on companies that hire illegal immigrants, as it announced charges against managers and workers at a global logistics group and promised similar actions in the future.

Immigration authorities arrested 1,187 undocumented employees at IFCO Systems North America, a subsidiary of Europe’s largest distributor of transport pallets, and brought criminal charges against seven managers. It was the greatest number of immigration arrests at a worksite in US history.