Rally Planned Against Raids Of Illegal Immigrants

Sylvia Gomez
Reporting

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(CBS) CHICAGO Protesters are gathering to rally against a new round of raids on undocumented immigrants.

Numerous raids have left Chicago families without their loved ones, and this morning the government is talking about its new policy.

As CBS 2's Sylvia Gomez reports, Wednesday’s raids were the largest enforcement action in U.S. history by the Department of Homeland Security.

It is the culmination of a year-long investigation and nearly 1,200 immigrants were rounded up.

Also, seven executives and hundreds of employees of the IFCO Systems, an international manufacturer of crates and pallets, were arrested. Immigration agents targeted the company and raided its locations in 26 states, including Illinois where at least 50 undocumented immigrants were busted.

In a news conference in Washington, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff said it is part of a new, severe crackdown on employers who knowingly profit from an illegal workforce.

“Americans are rightly concerned about the need to enforce our immigration laws and our workforce in the U.S.,” Chertoff said. “And that means we have to focus on illegal migration and also on those who flagrantly violate the rule by encouraging that illegal migration, whether they do it my smuggling the migrants across the border or employing the migrants in a systematic fashion once they get into the U.S.”

But illegal immigrant advocates are calling this action and crackdown immoral and they are outraged. They are planning a protest outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) headquarters and another protest is planned this afternoon.

They are asking immigration officials to halt action until Congress comes up with its new laws because it might allow some immigrants to remain in the U.S.

However, ICE leaders say that they have tripled their enforcements over the last year. They say they are going to work harder along the borders to stop people coming from coming in and target those who make it across the border and think that they are home free.


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