Chertoff says DSS can visit detained factory workers

NEW BEDFORD -- Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff yesterday gave assurances that state Department of Social Services workers will be allowed to visit illegal immigrants who are being detained at Fort Devens, a spokesman for Governor Deval Patrick said.

The social workers are expected to make visits to the facility in Ayer today to assess whether the workers swept up in Tuesday's immigration raid on a leather goods factory here are parents who need to care for their children.

"We are particularly concerned about the Guatemalan community and the risk that they may be fearful about disclosing the existence or whereabouts of their children, given their history with government agencies," Patrick wrote in a letter asking US Representative William D. Delahunt to make certain that social workers could meet with the detainees.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman, Marc Raimondi , defended the agency's operation. Officers had questioned the detainees several times about whether they had children and whether those children were being adequately cared for, Raimondi said.

"We're very thorough; we ensured that everybody was interviewed multiple times," he said. "We want to make sure if there are any humanitarian reasons that would necessitate them being released, we ascertain that before they are sent to other detention facilities. "

By last night, 60 of the workers detained had been released on humanitarian grounds, most of them because they were the sole or primary caregivers of young children. Those who remained were being held to await transfer to other detention facilities and deportation hearings.

Advocates said that the immigrants were afraid and that not all were truthful about their children, fearing that they, too , would be rounded up.

Last night, at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish at St. James Church in New Bedford, about 200 people gathered to talk about the raid, and volunteers were taking names of people who were missing and presumed detained.

Organizers offered pizza and urged those at the meeting not to look for their own lawyers but to unite efforts .

"We want to fight for everyone together," said Michele Rudy, director of organizing for the MIRA coalition, speaking in Spanish. "We're going to ask that they don't deport anyone."

Senator John F. Kerry asked that the federal officials "work with Department of Social Services to locate the parents of stranded children and secure their release as quickly as possible." Senator Edward M. Kennedy, also pressed officials.

At a press conference at a local church yesterday, immigration activists said some children whose parents had been detained were left with baby sitters, landlords, or men who had always relied on their wives for child-rearing.

Carlos Miranda, whose wife was detained, said his 9-month-old daughter had become sick overnight.

She had wanted to breastfeed, he said, and began to cry because her mother was gone.

"I don't want to be a burden here; I just came to work.," said Miranda, tears rolling down his cheeks. "We pay our taxes and health insurance. I really need to be with my wife right now."

Corinn Williams, executive director of the Community Economic Development Center of Southeastern Massachusetts, said she collected the names of 70 detained parents of minor children.

She said as many as 210 children might have been affected.

By yesterday afternoon, 29 children of detained parents had been placed in foster care, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.

Maria Sacchetti of the Globe staff contributed to this report.