Dozens arrested in Md. immigration raid

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070330/ap_on_re_us/immigration_raid_2
Dozens arrested in Md. immigration raid


By ALEX DOMINGUEZ, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 22 minutes ago

BALTIMORE - Immigration agents arrested 69 people Thursday in raids on a temporary employment agency's offices and places where it provided undocumented workers, including the port of Baltimore, authorities said.


U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents also seized a bank account containing more than $600,000 from the employment agency, Jones Industrial Network.

The company's offices and eight other businesses were searched, including three where the temp agency is suspected of providing undocumented workers, ICE said.

The investigation began last year after immigration officials heard that temp agencies had provided illegal immigrants as workers to the port of Baltimore and other unwitting employers, ICE said.

Having "illegal aliens working and having access to our ports is a major security vulnerability," said James Dinkins, ICE special agent in charge.

A telephone call seeking comment from the company was not immediately returned Thursday afternoon. The employment agency's offices downtown near the Inner Harbor were closed Thursday, with a sign in English and Spanish saying the company would not be open.

Family members of those detained gathered with activists outside the company's offices, carrying signs that read "Stop Dividing Our Families," "Stop The Raids," and "Fair Immigration Reform Now."

Daysi Lopez, 24, said the school her 7-year-old brother attends called her house after her mother didn't pick him up because she had been arrested. Jesenia Lazo held her sister-in-law's four-month-old child, David Lazo, who had not been breast-fed since his mother was arrested.

"The child was born here, he is only four months old," Lazo said in Spanish. "We are asking the people from immigration to please return them."

Lazo said her three sisters-in-law work at Under Armour, folding and packing clothing.

Authorities did not release the identities of those arrested, but said Jones managers were not arrested or charged. ICE officials said the investigation is continuing, however.

Jones is the only company that has been targeted criminally, and all others involved in the raids have cooperated, ICE officials said.

A lawyer for sportswear maker Under Armour Inc., which also was raided, said the Baltimore company was not aware that employees were illegal immigrants.

The company has cooperated fully with the investigation and is considering legal action against the temp agency, Under Armour general counsel Kevin Haley said.

"At Under Armour, we are patriots first and last, and we're fully committed to compliance with all laws and regulations," Haley said. "We're furious that apparently one of the temp agencies we use was not so committed or gave the appearance of being not so committed."

The workers were employed at the company's distribution center, Haley said.

Dinkins said 20 of those detained may qualify for humanitarian release. ICE field office director Calvin McCormick said those detained were being transferred to three institutions in Maryland and Pennsylvania.

Immigration officials said state and federal officials would interview the detainees to determine whether any medical, sole-caregiver or other issues would qualify them for humanitarian release. Relatives of the detainees can call a 24-hour toll-free hot line, 866-341-3858.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick this month urged federal authorities not to move out of that state any more factory workers detained in an immigration raid until their children were located and arrangements made for their care. More than 300 people were detained for possible deportation in a raid at a leather factory that makes equipment for the military.

(A previous version of this story wrongly attributed a quote to James Dinkins that was from Calvin McCormick. It also wrongly attributed a quote to McCormick that was from Dinkins. This version corrects both errors.)
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http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-raids0329,0,3584750.story

baltimoresun.com
Crackdown launched on illegal workers
69 caught in raid targeting city staffing firm; 8 businesses affected
By Brent Jones
Sun Reporter

Originally published March 29, 2007, 9:17 PM EDT

Federal agents arrested 69 employees in raids Thursday on Baltimore area businesses -- including sportswear fashion maker Under Armour Inc. -- that officials said employed illegal immigrants provided by a temporary employment agency.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement targeted Jones Industrial Network, a staffing firm located downtown, and seized $630,000 from the company's bank account as agents hauled off workers in buses and vans from eight local businesses.


The raids come a day after a federal judge imposed a 5-month prison sentence on the owner of local Japanese restaurants for hiring illegal workers and is part of a national effort to dissuade employers from violating federal immigration law.

ICE officials said their investigation focuses on the temp agency. They said none of the other businesses -- including Under Armour and Dixie Printing and Packaging Corporation -- are targets.

But the morning raids around the city thrust the companies in an unflattering spotlight. Under Armour is a Baltimore success story, having grown from a basement operation started by Kevin Plank more than a decade ago to a multi-million dollar international company. Wall Street often praises Under Armour for its innovative products -- athletic wear that wicks away the sweat from the body.

A lawyer for Under Armour declined to be interviewed. A spokesman issued a statement saying, "Under Armour is cooperating in a Department of Homeland Security investigation into a temporary employment agency located in Baltimore. Law enforcement officials have told Under Armour that they are not a target of this investigation. Under Armour is considering pursuing appropriate legal action against the temporary agency."

Jones Industrial Network executives were not arrested in the raid or charged with a crime, but ICE officials said they have not ruled out criminal charges.
A receptionist for Jones, whose Baltimore office near the Inner Harbor was dark with a closed sign taped to the window Thursday afternoon, said the company had no comment. Jones also has an office in Arlington, Va.

According to the company's Internet site, Jones has the ability to send hundreds of workers to a workplace at once. The company has done work for the Maryland Department of Education and for the State Highway Administration.

Immigration officials would not say whether Jones intentionally hired illegal workers. The arrested workers toiled mostly as manual labors, ICE officials said.

The investigation began in 2006 when ICE said they received information regarding temporary employment agencies providing illegal aliens to work to unknowing companies in the city.

ICE said Jones Industrial Network was suspected of providing illegal workers to the Port of Baltimore, which drew the attention of the federal government.

"The integrity of those facilities is a priority for us. Illegal individuals working and having access to our international ports is a major security vulnerability," special agent James Dinkins said at a news conference.

Many of the detainees are from Central American countries, including El Salvador, Honduras and Costa Rica. They are being held at the York County Prison in Pennsylvania and the Dorchester County and Worcester County detention centers, immigration officials said.

By late afternoon, word of the arrests spread throughout the city's Latino community, and advocacy groups held a news conference to denouncing the arrests.
"We cannot wait any more and stand by the side while our community is being demoralized, breaking apart, divided by a broken law, which is this immigration law," said Juan Carlos Ruiz, a spokesman for the Fair Immigration Reform Movement based in Washington. "We don't believe this is right. We don't believe this is the way you view America."

Ruiz was joined by about three dozen mostly Spanish-speaking people outside Jones' headquarters. Those saying they were related to people arrested spoke, including the sister of a four-month-old baby who said their mother was among those detained.

ICE officials said detainees with dependants could be released with supervision. Dinkins said the detainees are asked four times throughout processing if they have dependent children, and he said 20 of the people detained Thursday might qualify for humanitarian release.

Representatives of CASA of Maryland, the state's largest immigrant advocacy organization though, were still critical of the process.

"We want fair and comprehensive immigration reform now which does not terrorize our community," said Christy Swanson, director of services of CASA. "Their families are being asked to live in terror without knowing what will happen next. We're calling for a moratorium on deportation and ICE raids while we firmly and fairly debate the need for comprehensive immigration reform." A judge will ultimately determine whether any of the detainees would be removed from the country.

Other companies raided Thursday were: Tessco Technology, BP Castro, Baltimore Metal and Commodities of Baltimore County; C Steinweg, Beacon Stevedoring and Pritchard Brown of Baltimore.

brent.jones@baltsun.com
Sun reporter Andrea K. Walker contributed to this article.