Nearly 600 detained in Mississippi immigration raid

USA Today: Nation

LAUREL, Miss. (AP) — The largest single-workplace immigration raid in U.S. history has caused panic among Hispanic families in this small southern Mississippi town, where federal agents rounded up nearly 600 plant workers suspected of being in the country illegally.

One worker caught in Monday's sweep at the Howard Industries transformer plant said fellow workers applauded as immigrants were taken into custody. Federal officials said a tip from a union member prompted them to start investigating several years ago.

Fabiola Pena, 21, cradled her 2-year-old daughter as she described a chaotic scene at the plant as the raid began, followed by clapping.

"I was crying the whole time. I didn't know what to do," Pena said. "We didn't know what was happening because everyone started running. Some people thought it was a bomb but then we figured out it was immigration."

About 100 of the 595 detained workers were released for humanitarian reasons, many of them mothers who were fitted with electronic monitoring bracelets and allowed to go home to their children, officials said.

About 475 other workers were transferred to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Jena, La. Nine who were under 18 were transferred to the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement.

John Foxworth, an attorney representing some of the immigrants, said eight appeared in federal court in Hattiesburg on Tuesday because they face criminal charges for allegedly using false Social Security and residency identification.

He said the raid was traumatic for families.

See in Detail: [USA TODAY]

[Posted by: Carlos T. Alfaro]

Summer 2010

Florida joins states supporting Arizona immigration law with court brief: Some lawmakers want Florida to pass its own legislation

By Víctor Manuel Ramos, Orlando Sentinel

Florida is backing Arizona in its fight with the federal government over who can enforce U.S. immigration laws, Attorney General Bill McCollum said Wednesday.

The move comes as several lawmakers are calling on Gov. Charlie Crist and legislative leaders to allow discussion of immigration in the special session on oil drilling that starts Tuesday.

McCollum announced in Orlando that the state has joined a legal brief in federal court stating its support of Arizona's right to "concurrent enforcement" of immigration law, saying that states have the power to intervene on immigration matters.

Michigan, Alabama, Nebraska, the Northern Mariana Islands, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and Virginia also have joined the brief.

"The federal government has not been doing what it should be doing to enforce immigration laws," McCollum said. "The real issue here is that the states have the right to enforce the laws, federal or state, and there is no right for the federal government to come in and try to pre-empt that."
-----
Arizona is locked in a legal fight with the Obama administration and civil-rights groups over its law, which turns illegal immigration into a criminal-trespassing offense and requires local enforcement agencies to verify the status of people they suspect are in the country illegally.

The U.S. Department of Justice sued Arizona last week, asking the court to bar the state from enforcing immigration law. Civil-rights group have expressed concerns that Arizona's push could lead to harassment and ethnic profiling of people who look like illegal immigrants.

Debate over Arizona-style immigration reform has spilled over into Florida's Republican primary for governor, where McCollum is running against Rick Scott, a former health-care executive who accuses McCollum of waffling on the issue.

Echoing Scott, Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, and Rep. Kevin Ambler, R-Tampa, unveiled legislation this week that would make it a crime in Florida for immigrants not to carry registration documents required by federal law. They also would authorize state and local law-enforcement officials to question the immigration status of residents.


see more at: [Orlando Sentinel]

-----

[Posted by Carlos T. Alfaro]
Summer 2010