Thread: 32 arrested by ICE agents on immigration violations in eastern Iowa

32 arrested by ICE agents on immigration violations in eastern Iowa

Luke Nozicka and MacKenzie Elmer, The Des Moines RegisterPublished 3:50 p.m. CT May 9, 2018 | Updated 11:11 a.m. CT May 10, 2018

ICE arrests 32 in a raid at Midwest Precast Concrete in Mt. Pleasant. Zachary Boyden-Holmes, DesMoines

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(Photo: Zach Boyden-Holmes/The Register)


Iowa Rep. Dave Heaton heard a helicopter while sipping coffee at a local Mount Pleasant diner Wednesday morning, then learned immigration agents had surrounded a pre-stressed concrete plant outside of town.

Heaton, R-Mount Pleasant, said he followed law enforcement cars out to Midwest Precast Concrete, located just west of the center of this town of 8,500, where U.S. Homeland Security had arrested 32 men — of which 22 were from Guatemala, seven were from Mexico, two were from El Salvador and one was from Honduras — on immigration violations, an ICE official said.

"I saw a bunch of men sitting on the ground," Heaton said, though he could not get close enough to see if they were handcuffed because police blocked off nearby streets.

The men will remain in custody pending removal proceedings or the outcomes of their cases, the ICE official said. The immigration arrests were part of an ongoing criminal investigation.

Heaton described himself as being really worried about children of those arrested.

"All of a sudden their dad is somewhere else," Heaton said. "Those kids are in our schools. They play on our soccer and baseball teams like any normal student, and suddenly, their life in one morning has been totally disrupted."

Oscar Lopez, 15, gets emotional as he recounts the ICE raid at Midwest Precast Concrete in Mt. Pleasant that took his father. Zachary Boyden-Holmes, DesMoines


Related: Family "hoping we are going to be OK" amid dad's deportation

Trey Hegar, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Mount Pleasant, said the church is a designated "safe place" for students and their families affected by the arrests. As of 3:30 p.m., the church had prepared snacks and gathered members of the congregation, waiting to hear whether children whose guardians were arrested will need assistance.

Special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations — which investigates a variety of offenses from financial crimes to commercial fraud — as well as deportation officers with its Enforcement and Removal Operations, conducted the operation, said Shawn Neudauer, a regional ICE spokesman.

There was no threat to the public, Neudauer said. He declined to comment further.

Mount Pleasant Police, the Henry County Sheriff’s Office and the Iowa State Patrol assisted federal agents in the investigation. The agencies referred questions from the Register to Homeland Security.

The U.S. Attorneys Office in the Southern District of Iowa did not return a call seeking comment. In a statement, the attorney's office said a federal warrant was executed in the city.

It was not clear what type of crime was being investigated. Neudauer declined to comment on where agents were conducting their operation.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/st...nty/595656002/

32 more that need to be sent to Federal Tent City !!!

Several People Deported After ICE Raid in Mount Pleasant