JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Federal authorities backed by sheriff's deputies raided the Westside warehouse of a food distributor Tuesday morning, taking into custody 20 workers suspected of being illegal immigrants in what authorities called a filthy warehouse.

Investigators from the Border Patrol, the Department of Environmental Protection, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided N&L Inc. in the 4100 block of Dillon Street.

In addition to immigration issues, authorities said they also found a number of health violations. Channel 4 was told the business has 48 hours to remove perishables before it is shut down.

"It was bad," Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Lt. Michelle Cook said. "Open containers of food, food products on the floors, very dirty floors, lots of litter on the floor, workers smoking in the warehouse."

The raid came after a two-year investigation of the warehouse that provides food to many Chinese restaurants in northeast Florida and southeast Georgia.

Authorities said they have not located the owner of the warehouse, but they may charge her with harboring illegal immigrants and other violations.

Channel 4's Jim Piggott reported that 18 Hispanic and 2 Asian workers would face a hearing on immigration violations. He was told the workers lived in a house next to the warehouse that health officials condemned after everyone was removed.

"To put it bluntly, they were being held, exploited by their own culture," Cook said. "People with their own culture, bringing in people from Mexico or China and having them work illegally, and then paying them and holding them hostage and taking all the proceeds."