Thursday, 4:30 PM
DSS to Recommend Release of 10 More Detainees
By Maria Sacchetti, Globe Staff
HARLINGEN, Texas – The Massachusetts Department of Social Services will recommend today that federal authorities release at least 10 single parents who were detained during a raid on immigrant workers at a New Bedford factory, a spokeswoman said.
Some of the children are ill, and being cared for by friends or relatives, said spokeswoman Denise Monteiro. Social workers discovered the cases after interviewing dozens of detainees at the Port Isabel Base near the Mexican border, about a half hour's drive from the town of Harlingen.
In addition, the state could recommend the release of as many as 30 more immigrants detained during the Tuesday raid on Michael Bianco, Inc. – including 10 more in Harlingen and 20 in El Paso whose cases are still under review.
Two teams from the Department of Social Services arrived in Harlingen and El Paso early Saturday morning to interview detainees and determine if they were separated from their children. Since the raid, some single parents have already been released, wearing electronic bracelets so that authorities can monitor their whereabouts.
But state officials were concerned that roughly 200 more detainees were removed from the state last week before social workers could interview them.
Last week, federal Judge Richard G. Stearns ordered DSS and ICE to cooperate to find out how many of the detainees were mothers or the main guardians of children who were left behind in New Bedford. A progress report is due on Tuesday.
Stearns also ordered immigration officials in Massachusetts not to move out of state any of the remaining detainees and to make sure they had access to lawyers.
In Harlingen, Commissioner Harry Spence is overseeing a team of social workers who interviewed 90 men and women last night until after 11 p.m.
Monteiro said 116 people are being held in El Paso, where social workers interviewed detainees until midnight.
Several detained workers say they have left behind children
