Home > The Border Line > Archives > 2008 > August > 27
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Nearly 600 arrested at latest ICE raid
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement updated the tally of people arrested at a large immigration raid in Laurel, Miss.
According to various press reports, most of the 106 were parents of small children and were given ankle bracelets and told to appear in court at a later date.
The “enforcement action is part of ICE’s ongoing nationwide effort to shut down the employment magnet fueling illegal immigration,” said Michael A. Holt, ICE Special Agent in Charge of the Office of Investigations in New Orleans.
The illegal immigrants were from various countries including Germany, Peru, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama, Honduras and Brazil.
The raid is the latest in a string of enforcement efforts that have sparked criticism from Hispanic groups, immigrant advocates and civil liberties organizations.
Douglas Rivilin, a spokesman for the National Immigration Forum, said that the Laurel raid was “a man-made disaster on another small town’s workers and families.”
“Churches, legal services groups, and humanitarian organizations have already sprung into action to address the human costs in terms of children left without a parent, breadwinners plucked from their jobs, limited access to lawyers and truncated due process for detainees,” he said, in a statement.
Meanwhile, supporters of stronger immigration controls applauded the raid.
“The driving force behind illegal immigration is illegal employment. Anyone that knowingly violates our immigration laws is subject to the consequences of our enforcement actions,” said Rep. Brian Bilbray, chairman of the House Immigration Reform Caucus.
Read more here.
Permalink | Comments (18) | Post your comment
Hit men crossing the border?
Security is being heightened along the Southern border because of a threat that warring Mexican cartels may send hit men into the United States, the Associated Press reported this week.
According to AP, law enforcement officials would not discuss specific security measures being taken at the ports of entry, along the border or in the city of El Paso.
Chris Mears, spokesman for the El Paso police, told the AP: “We received credible information that drug cartels in Mexico have given permission to hit targets on the U.S. side of the border.”
Read more here.
