WORLD> America
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WORLD> America
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Immigration raids US plant seeking illegal workers
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-26 09:50 All plant entrances were blocked and a tent was set up at one checkpoint to keep agents out of a steady rain. Officers in an unmarked vehicle stopped motorists traveling on roads behind the factory and told them to leave. People exiting the plant told The Hattiesburg American newspaper that so many workers were stopped that operations shut down. It wasn't clear how many workers the plant employed. Rodolfo Galicia said his 22-year-old brother was detained. "Everybody's crying, worried about what's going to happen to him," he said in Spanish. The ICE spokeswoman said 50 people were given alternatives to detention for humanitarian reasons, meaning they could be fitted with a tracking device and order to report to a case worker later. Howard Industries was founded in the 1960s. The company produces dozens of products, including electrical transformers and medical supplies, according to its Web site. The raid is one of several nationwide in recent years. On May 12, federal immigration officials swept into Iowa's Agriprocessors, the nation's largest kosher meatpacking plant. Nearly 400 workers were detained and dozens of fraudulent permanent resident alien cards were seized from the plant's human resources department, court records showed. |
