5 at rag factory charged in immigration raid
07/03/2008
Associated Press

The owner and four supervisors of a rag factory raided last week by immigration officials have been charged with knowingly hiring and employing undocumented workers.

U.S. Attorney Don DeGabrielle said in a news release Wednesday that the five were involved in a pattern and practice of hiring undocumented workers and knowingly accepting false documents as proof of citizenship.

More than 160 suspected illegal immigrants working in Action Rags USA, a hot, cluttered factory in north Houston were detained last week in one of the largest immigration raids in the city in nearly two years.

Those charged Wednesday include the factory owner, Mabarik Hahlon, 45; his partner and uncle, Rasheed Ahmed, 58; manager Cirila Barron, 38; resource manager Valerie Rodriguez, 34; and warehouse supervisor Mayra Herrera-Gutierrez, 32.

Barron and Herrera-Gutierrez are illegal immigrants from Mexico. All five were expected to make appearances in court Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Calvin Botley.

About 70 percent of those detained last week were female β€” eight of whom were pregnant. Two minors were released to members of their family. The detainees are from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

Four employees required medical treatment, including a woman who fell 20 feet off a stack of wooden pallets where she was hiding.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Robert Rutt said more than 200 people were in the factory on the day of the raid.

About 60 may qualify for temporary release, if they have so-called humanitarian issues, such as health needs or are sole caregivers to children. But they will still have to appear before a federal immigration judge who will decide whether they can remain in the country.
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