Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 27 Mexicans and three Guatemalans on charges of immigration violations, and they will be processed for deportation, ICE spokesman Richard Rocha said.

Agents entered the work site of the new National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center at Patriot Park in Columbus on Tuesday morning and checked the IDs of all workers, Rocha said. Those considered to be illegally in the country were transported to the ICE detention center in Stewart County, he said.

Cyndy Cerbin, a spokeswoman for the National Infantry Foundation, a private group building the museum, referred all questions to contractor Batson-Cook Co. Eddie Sanders, on-site project manager for Batson-Cook, said his company is cooperating with ICE.

"Batson-Cook follows all the federal and state laws on hiring of personnel," Sanders said. "We expect our subcontractors to follow those laws, as well."

"When you have an incident like this, you are shocked," he said.

"Until these guys are proven to be guilty, we don't really know if they're illegal yet," he said.

The men arrested worked for a number of subcontractors on the site, Sanders said.

The $85 million museum dedicated to infantry history is located next to the base. It will replace the current museum, which is in the middle of Fort Benning and is run by the Army. The museum displays Army uniforms, mess equipment, guns, helmets, a 1902 Studebaker Utility Wagon and the classic Jeep. It traces the campaigns of infantrymen through U.S. history.

The immigration raid won't hinder the museum's construction, which is expected to be completed in November 2008, Sanders said.

ICE also arrested illegal workers at Fort Benning in January as they arrived to work on a barracks project.

One of ICE's priorities is to ensure the integrity of critical infrastructure such as airports, nuclear power plants and military bases.

The agency had developed information that there were possible unauthorized workers at the museum construction site, which led to the raid, Rocha said.