http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/loca ... ryid=67020

Federal Agents Raid Green Cove Springs Trailer


By Jackelyn Barnard

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- A trailer park in Green Cove Springs is all quiet now.

Thursday was another story.

Around 5 a.m., Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, also known as ICE, moved in for a raid.

"They took Erin and Ricky from me and my mom," says Marida Elliott.

Elliot's boyfriend, and her mother's boyfriend, were part of the 28 man roundup of undocumented workers.

ICE was out at the same trailer park two years ago on a similar raid, where more than 40 undocumented men were arrested.

ICE says the two raids are connected by one man. The man owns a drywall company in Green Cove Springs.

The man, who is still under investigation, has not been arrested, so we are not identifying him.

Agents say that business owner hires and houses the undocumented workers for cheap labor.

Agents also say the man is under investigation for money laundering.

Those who live in the trailer park say the raid was done too early in the morning.

"I don't think it's right because it scared the kids. How would they feel if go to their home and scare their kids," says one neighbor.

Others say the early morning raid got too rough.

"This time they broke their windows. They were jumping through the windows to start taking them," says another neighbor.

First Coast News cameras found a broken window at one trailer.

ICE issued this statement: "There was no violence. Everything went very smoothly out there......(and there were) none of these issues that we're hearing."

Out of the 28 arrested, two will appear before a federal judge because they are re-entries. They were arrested before and deported and have made their way back to the United States.

Another, agents say, is a criminal facing serious drug charges.

Most of the group has already been sent south to a federal facility in Miami.


Created: 10/13/2006 4:55:16 PM
Updated: 10/13/2006 8:27:31 PM
Edited by Jackelyn Barnard, Reporter