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It's clear not only from the fact it sent a reporter to Laurel, MS, but also from the way the New York Times reported the latest mass ICE sweep, yielding 350 detainees at a factory in Laurel, MS, a town of about 20,000 in southeastern Mississippi, that the paper's editors have decided to take an interest in what Adam Nossiter called (referring the May 2008 sweep in Postville, Iowa) "a significant escalation of the Bush administration’s enforcement practices."[1] -- (In fact, so little information is available that the rapid report from the New York Times invites speculation that the paper had advance notice of the operation.) -- "People leaving the plant told the Hattiesburg American newspaper that so many workers were stopped that operations were shut down," the Associated Press reported.[2] -- WLOX, an ABC affiliate in Biloxi, MS, noted that "Howard Industries is the number one employer in Jones County with more than 3,000 people on the payroll."[3] -- The Hattiesburg (MS) American reported that immigration rights groups in Mississippi had divined from a recent influx of ICE agents that a sweep somewhere in the state was imminent.[4] -- The paper posted a gallery of eleven photographs. -- News reports indicated that at least initially ICE is keeping the media at bay and releasing little information about the operation.[5] -- A late-breaking report from the Hattiesburg American said that "All entrances to the plant were sealed by heavily armed ICE officers wearing flak vests. Hispanic workers were segregated from other plant employees. Mobile trailers were set up to interview the employees, some of whom were loaded into vans and taken to an undisclosed location," and that "Later in the day, large U.S. Department of Homeland Security buses left the plant for an undisclosed site."[6] -- "One of the potential charges could be aggravated identity theft, in which another person's name and Social Security number were used to gain employment," the paper said, mentioning the bogus legal device used to imprison large numbers after the Postville, IA, raid. -- COMMENT: Unmentionable in the mainstream media is the fact that private prison companies which are large contributors to both major parties see their balance sheets padded with tax dollars — some of them provided by the very workers who are the victims of the raids....

[PHOTO CAPTION: Federal agents and handcuffed workers at the Howard Industries plant on Monday in Laurel, Miss. Officials said at least 350 workers were in the country illegally.]

[PHOTO CAPTION: Howard Industries, one of the largest employers in the region, manufactures electrical transformers, among other products.]

LAUREL, Miss. -- In another large-scale workplace immigration crackdown, federal officials raided a factory here on Monday, detaining at least 350 workers they said were in the country illegally.

Numerous agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement descended on a factory belonging to Howard Industries Inc., which manufactures electrical transformers, among other products.

As of late Monday afternoon, no criminal charges had been filed, said Barbara Gonzalez, an agency spokeswoman, but she said that dozens of workers had been “identified, fingerprinted, interviewed, photographed, and processed for removal from the U.S.”

The raid follows a similar large-scale immigration operation at a meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, in May when nearly 400 workers were detained. That raid was a significant escalation of the Bush administration’s enforcement practices because those detained were not simply deported, as in previous raids, but were imprisoned for months on criminal charges of using false documents.

The mass rapid-fire hearings after the Postville raid took place in a temporary court facility on the grounds of the National Cattle Congress in Waterloo, Iowa. An interpreter was later sharply critical of the proceedings, saying the immigrants did not understand the charges against them.

An immigrant rights group in Jackson, Miss., the state capital, was critical of Monday’s raid, saying families with children were involved.

“It’s horrific what ICE is doing to these families and these communities,” said Shuya Ohno, a spokesman for the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance. “It’s just hard to imagine that this is the United States of America.”

In Laurel on Monday afternoon, several dozen family members of immigrants waited for news of their relatives at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. There were several small children. A priest at the church who identified himself only as Father Sergio refused to allow interviews with the families or answer any questions, saying only: “People are afraid. We need to calm them. There are mothers and children involved.”

Entrances to the sprawling plant, in an industrial section south of town, had been blocked off by ICE. A nearby fast-food restaurant was full of the blue-shirted agents, one of whom would say only that a “little inspection” was under way at the facility.

A woman entering the church grounds with four small children said several of the youngsters’ parents had been detained. The woman, Mary Troyer, said she was a translator for many of the families.

“I don’t like this at all,” Ms. Troyer said. “I don’t understand it. They have come here to work. It’s very sad.”

The ICE spokeswoman, Ms. Gonzalez, said the workers would be taken to an ICE detention center to “await the outcome of their cases.” She said 50 would be “released into the community” instead of being sent to the center, for “humanitarian reasons,” including medical difficulties or the need to take care of children.

She said no lawyers were present while the workers were being interrogated. “Everyone will have due process under law,” Ms. Gonzalez said.

Late Monday afternoon, the grim-faced workers, some of them handcuffed, were lined up near white and silver buses as the rain poured down.

In a statement issued after the raid, Howard Industries, one of the largest employers in the region, acknowledged that it was “visited” by immigration agents trying to determine if its employees were citizens or otherwise legally authorized to work in the country.

“Howard Industries runs every check allowed to ascertain the immigration status of all applicants for jobs,” the statement said. “It is company policy that it hires only U.S. citizens and legal immigrants.”

Bill Chandler, executive director of the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance, called the Laurel raid a violation of human rights.

“We’re very disturbed at what’s happened,” Mr. Chandler said. “It’s a real contradiction between our proclaimed values of hard work and family in Mississippi and the actions of local law enforcement, and ICE. I think it’s a real affront to our values. They’re creating their own terrorism by going after workers.”

After the Iowa raid, the federal interpreter said many of the immigrants did not understand the charges to which they pleaded guilty. But federal officials said the judges in the cases believed that the guilty pleas had been made freely and voluntarily.

LAUREL, Miss. -- Federal immigration agents said they uncovered 350 suspected undocumented workers in a raid on a Mississippi electrical equipment plant Monday, hours after sealing all entrances amid reports their sweep had idled normal operations.

Barbara Gonzalez, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman, confirmed the raid and said it targeted Howard Industries Inc. of Laurel.

The company produces dozens of products ranging from electrical transformers to medical supplies, according to the company's Web site.

"This is a targeted enforcement operation that is part of an ongoing ICE investigation that has revealed that illegal aliens are employed at Howard Industries," Gonzalez said, adding late Monday that agents were still interviewing plant workers.

She declined to say how many federal agents were involved, but said they acted on a tip provided by a union worker.

Another agency spokesman, Brandon Montgomery, told the Associated Press outside the plant Monday afternoon that agents were talking with everyone who worked at the sprawling plant to determine their residency status.

All plant entrances were blocked, with tents set up at some ICE checkpoints to keep agents out of a steady rain. Motorists traveling on roads behind the plant were stopped by officers in unmarked vehicles and told to leave.

Suspected illegal workers were loaded later Monday into white vans with shaded windows and driven away as ICE agents guarded the plant entrances. Gonzalez wouldn't say where they were headed other than to say they were being taken to a holding facility.

People leaving the plant told the Hattiesburg American newspaper that so many workers were stopped that operations were shut down. It wasn't clear how many workers the plant employed.

A recording at Howard Industries plant on Monday said the telephone switchboard was closed.

Billy Howard, the company's chief executive officer, did not immediately respond to a message left by the AP. A man who answered a phone call at the company's security station said reporters would have to call back Tuesday.

Howard Industries was founded in the 1960s. In 2002, state lawmakers approved a $31.5 million, taxpayer-backed incentive plan aimed at helping to expand its operations.

On May 12, federal immigration officials swept into Agriprocessors, the nation's largest kosher meatpacking plant, in Iowa. 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.

Note: ICE says people whose relatives were detained can call for information: 866-341-3858.

LAUREL, MS -- Federal Immigration Agents raided Howard Industries in Laurel Monday morning, taking dozens of illegal workers into custody.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) wouldn't say how many illegal immigrants they believe were employed at the company. But Bill Chandler, Executive Director of the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance, said the number of arrests could be in the hundreds.

Workers leaving the plant Monday told reporters that so many people were arrested, the plant had to shut down. ICE agents offered few details of the investigation.

"If someone is found to be in violation of immigration laws, they will have due process under law. They will have the opportunity to present the facts of their case before an immigrations judge. If the judge determines they are ineligible to remain in the country and orders them deported, then certainly we will carry out those orders of removal," said Barbara Gonzales with ICE.

Howard Industries is the number one employer in Jones County with more than 3,000 people on the payroll. That's according to the Jones County Chamber of Commerce. The company produces commercial and industrial products ranging from electrical transformers to medical supplies.

In 2002, Howard Industries was given $31.5 million tax dollars to expand operations. The state required the company to create 2,000 new jobs. The Mississippi Development Authority said in 2002 that if Howard falls short of employment goals, the state would take away $3,000 for each job not created.

An immigrants' rights group based in Jackson knew for the last eight or nine days that more U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials were in the state.

“We saw a growing presence of ICE agents in the area. It was apparant they were going after somebody,” said Bill Chandler, executive director of Mississippi Immigrants’ Rights Alliance.

Chandler said they didn't know where in the state a raid might occur. Federal warrants were served at a Howard Industries plant in Laurel this morning and also at the business's corportate offices in Ellisville.

Those arrested or detained this morning are expected to be processed at the Federal Courthouse in Hattiesburg this afternoon.

Editor's note: This has been updated to correct the contact phone number for families seeking information.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has confirmed its agents conducted a targeted enforcement operation at Howard Industries in Laurel this morning.

Barbara Gonzalez, regional communication director for ICE, said this morning’s operation was part of a long, on-going investigation of Howard Industries.

Public health officers are on the scene to evaluate the health care and humanitarian concerns of detained individuals.

ICE will release more information later today. No other details are available now.

At the Howard Industries plant, people who identified themselves as Howard employees, were coming out of the building. They said that so many illegal immigrants were being arrested that the plant had to be shut down because there were not enough workers to run the plant.

Some said ICE agents were searching the entire building, including employees’ lockers. Some of the locks on the lockers had to be broken off.

Gonzalez said that officials don’t yet have an official count of illegal immigrants arrested.

ICE also is raiding the corporate headquarters at Howard Industrial Park in Ellisville.

Hattiesburg (MS) American (as posted by the Clarion-Ledger [Jackson, MS])
August 26, 2008

LAUREL -- An estimated 350 Howard Industries workers are being held at an undisclosed location following an early Monday raid that officials say is the largest round-up of its type in Mississippi in recent years.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the 350 employees at the Laurel plant are in the country illegally.

All entrances to the plant were sealed by heavily armed ICE officers wearing flak vests. Hispanic workers were segregated from other plant employees. Mobile trailers were set up to interview the employees, some of whom were loaded into vans and taken to an undisclosed location.

Later in the day, large U.S. Department of Homeland Security buses left the plant for an undisclosed site.

Company officials defended their hiring practices in a prepared statement late Monday afternoon.

"Howard Industries runs every check allowed to ascertain the immigration status of all applicants for jobs. It is company policy that it hires only U.S. citizens and legal immigrants," the company said in a statement.

The company said all Howard Industries employees should report to work today for regularly scheduled shifts.

The raid comes months after Gov. Haley Barbour signed into law a bill designed to keep illegal immigrants from working in the state. The law requires businesses with 250 or more workers to use the E-Verify system -- a national database operated by the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration -- to weed out undocumented workers. The law's penalties include the loss of a business license for a year and a ban on state contracts for up to three years.

ICE spokeswoman Barbara Gonzalez said Monday's operation was part of an ongoing investigation of Howard Industries. Brandon Montgomery, another ICE spokesman, said the investigation had been months in the planning. The raid was executed after a tip from a Howard Industries union member, Gonzalez said.

"If employees are found to be in violation, they will be transported to an area facility and receive due process under the law," Gonzalez said.

Montgomery said ICE officials will interview Howard Industry officials to determine "if the company had any knowledge that they were hiring illegal workers" or if the company was aware that anyone was using identification documents that weren't their own. Montgomery said nobody in management at Howard Industries has been arrested.

ICE also raided corporate headquarters at Howard Industries in Ellisville. The gate at the headquarters was being guarded by two men wearing camouflage pants and blue T-shirts with the words "POLICE" on the back and "ICE" on the front left.

Montgomery said he did not know how long the 350 people would remain in detention. About 50 are expected to be released through "alternative detention," which means they can go home to make arrangements for their children but still have to go through the standard ICE processes. Montgomery said those eligible are neither a flight risk nor a security risk and cited expectant mothers and mothers with newborn children as examples. ICE will use electronic monitoring devices on them.

Of the other 300, about 10 are expected in federal court this morning in Hattiesburg to face criminal charges. One of the potential charges could be aggravated identity theft, in which another person's name and Social Security number were used to gain employment. Another possible criminal complaint would be in a case where a detainee was found to have re-entered the United States after being deported.

Brandon attorney Robert Ogletree, who specializes in immigration law, said the best thing family members can do for detainees is gather documentation.

"They need to find out where they are and where they are being taken," Ogletree said. "If they lose contact with their loved ones, they need to contact an attorney and law enforcement to track them down and find out where they have been moved to."

If individuals are released under their own recognizance, Ogletree said, they will have to appear for a hearing before an immigration judge.

An immigrants' rights group based in Jackson said it knew for the last eight or nine days that more ICE officials were in the state.

"We saw a growing presence of ICE agents in the area. It was apparent they were going after somebody," said Bill Chandler, executive director of Mississippi Immigrants' Rights Alliance. Chandler said they didn't know where in the state a raid would occur and that other raids are possible. MIRA sent lawyers to Laurel and Hattiesburg.

"Basically they (ICE) create a major humanitarian crisis for families and spouses and children," Chandler said. He said in some cases, both parents had disappeared in Monday's raid and other families were left without breadwinners.

"The question is what they are doing with people when they are arrested," Chandler said. "It's an immoral, very anti-human, anti-family act. They split families and create terror in the Latino community. They go in, shake down the plant, put people in shackles and chains, carry them to jail, have them arraigned and often they are put in jails with real criminals," Chandler said.

At the plant Monday, people who identified themselves as Howard employees and were leaving the building said that so many workers were being arrested that the plant had to be shut down.

Public health officers were on the scene to evaluate the health care and humanitarian concerns of detained individuals.

The Rev. Nilton Garcia was across the street from the plant early Monday, speaking Spanish into his cell phone. Garcia, the pastor of the Hispanic Seventh Day Adventist Church of Laurel for six years, was trying to get information about eight church members involved in the raid.

"I came to see if I could help them, but there isn't much I can do here," he said, gesturing to the main entrance sealed by ICE officers. "I am just praying that the situation will be fixed because there are families involved. These are good people, and they need help."