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Thursday, March 8, 2007
By Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff
An angry Governor Deval Patrick blasted federal immigration officials today for a massive raid at a New Bedford leather manufacturer that left dozens of children without caregivers.
State officials are concerned that more children may still be in hiding because their parents or guardians never came home from work Tuesday. The roundup by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents netted 327 immigrants working at Michael Bianco Inc., a waterfront factory in New Bedford that makes handbags and military backpacks.
Immigration officials flew approximately 150 of the immigrants to Texas Wednesday night before they could be interviewed by state child welfare workers, Patrick said. Administration officials said the federal government has refused requests by the state to halt additional flights.
"No one on my team is satisfied with that answer," Patrick said today in a press conference at the State House.
The federal government has agreed to fly suspected illegal immigrants back if it is determined that they are the primary caregiver for a child in Massachusetts, Patrick said.
Immigration officials on Wednesday defended the raid and said that agents interviewed each detainee several times to determine whether they had children and ensure they were being adequately cared for. On Tuesday night, 60 of the suspects were released on humanitarian grounds, most of them because they were the sole or primary caregivers of young children.
Until 7 a.m. today, caseworkers from the state Department of Social Services interviewed the remaining detainees who were being held at Fort Devens, Patrick said. It was there state officials learned some of the immigrants had already been flown to Texas. Caseworkers determined during the interviews that at least 26 people in federal custody in Massachusetts were either minors, pregnant, nursing, or the primary caregiver of at least one child.
"I want to be clear that the Commonwealth had no role in the criminal investigation or immigration enforcement action taken by the federal government in New Bedford," Patrick said.
State officials were notified in confidence last week that immigration officials planned to raid the factory. The state had been given assurances, Patrick said, that steps had been taken to accommodate people with children or other dependents.
"Latchkey kids and some adolescents as well might have gone home after school with no one to care for them," Patrick said. "Our role here is to protect each of those children, particularly those without supervision."
The state has set up a hot line specifically designated to help locate any children who may have been left behind. The number is 1-800-792-5200.
Corinn Williams, executive director of the Community Economic Development Center of Southeastern Massachusetts, has said that as many as 210 children might have been affected. By Wednesday afternoon, 29 of those children had been placed in foster care, according to state officials.
The owner of the factory, Francesco Insolia, and three of his managers were arrested Tuesday and accused of deliberately employing illegal immigrants. They were released the same day, and production resumed at their three-story redbrick factory. That frustrated the governor.
"They came in and swept up all these workers, most of them women," Patrick said. "The folks who run that plant, they're back at work today. And I think there is something wrong with that."
Posted by the Boston Globe City & Region Desk at 01:35 PM
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