March 29, 2007
The Politics Of "Worksite Enforcement" -- Update
Federal agents are conducting “worksite enforcement” actions, otherwise known as raids, in and around the Baltimore area this afternoon, a senior Homeland Security official confirms. Agents from the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Bureau have gone to 8 locations, and officials will hold a press conference at 2:00 PM ET, said Marc Raimondi, the ICE spokesperson.
The worksite action comes on the heels of a raid in New Bedford, Mass., on a clothing manufacturer who held millions of dollars in Defense contracts. ICE rounded up several hundred people in that raid, but stirred the ire of Massachusetts Sens. John Kerry and Edward Kennedy because some of the apprehended illegal workers were separated from their young children, some of whom were born in the United States and are citizens. Kerry has called for an investigation into how the raid was planned and carried out, and Kennedy compared the plight of children and family members separated from the apprehended workers to the “human suffering that we all witnessed after the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Katrina.
ICE officials defended themselves against criticism from the lawmakers, as well as state and local officials, who accused the agency of being ham handed in its approach. ICE noted that state and local agencies, as well as the governor’s office, were briefed in advance of the raid, and that the workplace raid was a legitimate part of ICE’s mission to enforce immigration laws. They also said they took steps to ensure that any workers who were the sole providers for children at home were let go for “humanitarian” reasons.
Presumably, ICE officials will be especially sensitive in how they process suspected illegal workers in the Maryland raids today. Raimondi said that the Maryland raid is “not as big” as the one in New Bedford, indicating that not as many workers will have been rounded up by the end of the day. [SHANE HARRIS]
Posted at 01:20 PM
Comments
Hopefully illegals will be so upset about the raids that they will take their children and return to their legal countries where they won't have to worry about deportation.
leroi | 03.29.07 03:29 PM
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