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Immigration officials round up undocumented workers
Raids part of a larger effort
By Andy Cerota


Raids held at Houston area businesses
Wednesday morning are part of a larger
effort to crack down on undocumented workers.

(4/19/06 - KTRK/HOUSTON) - Businesses accused of hiring undocumented workers are being raided. One of the businesses is on the North Loop near McCarty and another is located on Flintlock.

It started shortly after 8am Wednesday. It's happening at the IFCO Systems, a company that manufactures wood pallets on the north side of town.

A bus from the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement is on the scene. Federal agents are questioning and then loading the workers onto a bus. What's not clear is exactly how many of them are actually undocumented immigrants.

Authorities are not making any statements this morning. We do know that this is part of a larger, on-going investigation into those businesses that may be hiring undocumented workers.

Right now a lot of the relatives of the workers are showing up on the scene. We spoke with a man whose brother-in-law from El Salvador is among those being taken into custody. He says his brother-in-law is here illegally, smuggled into the country two months ago.

"He called up my sister, right," said Elmer Duran. "He telling her they got a big bus from immigration over here. That's it, you know. He can't say no more."

There's another raid at a business in northwest Houston. It's believed to be a similar situation, but the business itself is still unclear.

Stay with ABC13 Eyewitness News for the latest on this developing story.
(Copyright © 2006, KTRK-TV)