ICE response to raid questions stays chilly

May 18, 2011 7:50 PM
BY DAVID A JOHNSON

After confirming the arrest of 38 people Tuesday at a northeast Odessa construction site, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement was unavailable to answer questions about the raid Wednesday.

The ICE spokeswoman in El Paso said no more information could be given following a Tuesday afternoon news release that stated 37 men and one woman had been arrested at 4001 Faudree Road on administrative immigration violations.

Marc McDougal said Wednesday that he was also hoping to hear more from law enforcement especially because he has heard from his subcontractors that not all of those picked up were in the country illegally. McDougal is president of the Lubbock-based McDougal Land Team, which is main contractor for the still-unfinished Tuscany at Faudree apartments.

McDougal said he hadn’t confirmed it directly, but he’d been told many had work visas that were either not with them at the time or were in the process of being renewed, and almost 40 percent of those taken came from one subcontractor. The subcontractor said those people were in fact legal residents, and McDougal said if that wasn’t the case, the subcontractor wouldn’t be hired again.

“We need that information, too,â€