Hundreds of workers held in immigration raid
- United States
- 08/28/2008
Federal immigration agents raided a major manufacturing plant in southern Mississippi on Monday, but it wasn’t immediately clear how many illegal workers were taken into custody.
Barbara Gonzalez, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman, said the target of the operation was Howard Industries Inc. in Laurel, a town of about 18,000 people about 85 miles southeast of Jackson.
Howard Industries produces dozens of products, including electrical transformers and medical supplies, according to the its Web site.
“Because the operation is still under way, an arrest total is not available at this time,” Gonzalez said from the scene.
Bill Chandler, the executive director of the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance, an advocacy group, said the number of arrests could be in the hundreds. That estimate could not immediately be verified. People coming out of the plant told The Hattiesburg American newspaper that so many illegal immigrants were arrested that the plant had to be shut down.
A recording at Howard Industries plant on Monday said the telephone switchboard was closed.
Billy Howard, the company’s chief executive officer, did not immediately respond to a message left by The Associated Press.
“ICE has created a major humanitarian crisis,” Chandler said. “There’s children that won’t have anyone there when they get home from school because their parents have been arrested. They’re creating a major crisis.”
Gonzalez, the ICE spokeswoman, said public health service officers were on the scene to interview and evaluate the condition of the workers to determine if there are “any humanitarian concerns we need to be aware of.”
