Thread: ICE raids plant in Laurel, Mississippi

Stay safe StormyDane!!!!!!

August 29, 2008


Lamar schools: No parents detained in Laurel raid

By BRITTANY BROWN

More than 180 students were absent from Laurel schools Tuesday, following a Monday-morning raid at a Howard Industries plant in Laurel that detained 595 suspected illegal workers.

Superintendent Glenn McGee released a prepared statement late Tuesday saying the day's attendance was 2,822 students. The district's total enrollment this year is 3,005 students.

"There has been a steady drop in attendance over the past few school days, but the Laurel School District cannot, at this time, ascertain that the drop was due to the Department of Homeland Security Immigration Customs Enforcement raids at Howard Industries," he said in the prepared statement.

Officials at Lamar County, Petal, Hattiesburg, Forrest County and Forrest County Agricultural High schools said they do not have students whose parents or guardians were detained in the raid.

Ben Burnett, superintendent of Lamar County schools, said even if students whose parents or guardians have been detained are found attending school in the district, the school has no authority in the situation.

"I don't see where the school would have a role except continuing to educate the child," he said.

Lamar County has seen an increase in Hispanic students over the past five years, with the majority living in the Oak Grove area.

About 200 students in the county speak English as their second language, said Peggy Williams, director of instruction for Lamar County schools.

Williams, who works with the English as a Second Language program, said a teacher called her Sunday night with concerns from Hispanic parents that a raid was coming to the schools Monday.

"Somehow word had gotten out in the community that Immigration was in the area," Williams said. "But I never expected officials to come to the school. They won't target children."

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said the employees they detained Monday morning are in the country illegally.

Students, however, do not have to be U.S. citizens to attend public schools. All students are required to show two proofs of residence and a birth certificate before registering.

In Forrest County School District, no students were found.

"We found no students at our schools whose parents or guardians work at Howard Industries," said Debbie Burt, superintendent for Forrest County schools.

"The federal law prohibits schools from asking for any information regarding a student's immigration status," Burt said.

"We are not immigration agents. We are here to enroll students in our schools and educate them."

But that doesn't mean schools haven't taken proactive measures.

Burt said after Monday's raid she received a phone call at 5 p.m. from a representative with the Department of Homeland Security.

"They wanted us to be aware of what was going on," she said.

Burt said she and officials checked student information sheets to see where parents and guardians were employed.

"We worked into the night until we were satisfied that there were no students in our district involved with this," she said.

In Laurel, McGee's statement also said school officials are following the absentee policy and contacting parents to determine the cause of absence.

If contact cannot be made and students continue to miss school, he said officials will visit students' homes.

"District employees have worked diligently today to make contact with families," he said.

"Those employees have made contact with many families to determine their needs and will notify the local social service agency if necessary."

Julia Bryan, public information officer with the Mississippi Department of Human Services, said the state could become involved with children whose parents or guardians were detained.

"If we took these children into custody would depend on whether they're illegal or legal citizens," she said.

Bryan said DHS officials cannot confirm any intake of these children.

"In this particular case, we can't speak to any specific instance of children coming into our custody," she said.

"It is, however, the function of DHS to investigate and work with law enforcement to ensure the safety of children."

Officials in the Jones County School District did not return phone calls Tuesday seeking comment.

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http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps ... /808290302

welcome to ALIPAC "ICEFAN" By the waay, I have read on their web site that they do not take e-mails but that you have to call them to make reports on immigration infractions.

And again..........GO I.C.E.

i work for jones county school district. i drive a bus. i noticed that a few of them had returned. but one of my kids told me yesterday that some of the kids in his 6 th grade class and his teacher were crying because one of the hispanics was moving. she said her and her family had to move. she didnt say why she just said her dad worked at peco. peco is a chicken plant in a nieghboring town.

Well, they can be pen pals. I had one in school.

All this pay check drama is bull.

Howard does not have to release a payroll check to a family member. It would be irresponsible for them to do that. The last check, should be mailed to the last know address of the employee. It's against the law to withold wages, even if the person is illegal.

Dixie

How could HI not know what was going on?

September 05, 2008 10:21 am

— To the editor:
Although I once worked at Howard Industries, I am not a typical disgruntled former employee. I simply reached a point at which I realized there was not much of a future for me there, even though I enjoyed a lot of my five years there.
[b]The way I saw some employees treated does make me quite proud that I was able to leave when I did, before things apparently really got bad. Conversations with former coworkers still at Howard Industries have indicated that the regular arrivals of ‘loads’ of immigrant workers have increased the percentage of “non-nativeâ€

Friday, Sep 5, 2008
Posted on Fri, Sep. 05, 2008
AG to decide if company broke Mississippi law
By SHELIA BYRD
Attorney General Jim Hood's office is determining whether a new state law was violated by Howard Industries in Laurel, the site of the largest workplace immigration raid in U.S. history.
"We'll look at what they've done and determine if it's a violation of state law, as well as determine if we need to enforce it," Hood told The Associated Press.

The law passed by the 2008 Legislature and signed by Gov. Haley Barbour requires public and private employers in the state to use the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's E-Verify system to check new workers' immigration status.

The law took effect July 1 for state agencies and for private businesses with state contracts. It takes effect Jan. 1 for all other businesses.

Under the new law, any company found guilty of employing illegal immigrants could lose public contracts for up to three years and lose the right to do business in Mississippi for one year.

The law also says it's a felony for an illegal immigrant to accept a job in Mississippi. Conviction carries up to five years in state prison and a fine of up to $10,000.

The agencies in charge of enforcement of the law are the Department of Employment Security, Mississippi State Tax Commission, Department of Human Services, secretary of state and attorney general.

"Our folks have tried to get a meeting of all those agencies that have authority," Hood said this week.

On Aug. 25, nearly 600 suspected illegal immigrants were taken into custody during the U.S. Immigration and Enforcement raid. Eight of them faced criminal charges for allegedly using false Social Security and residency identification. Most of the others were sent to a federal facility in Jena, La.

For the new state law to have any effect, Mississippi officials must determine if the company has a current state contract, and if so, whether any of its illegal workers were hired since July 1. Officials also must determine if the company used the E-Verify system.

Michael Howard, president of the Laurel company, wasn't available for comment, his secretary said Thursday.

After the raid, Howard Industries said in a statement the company "runs every check allowed to ascertain the immigration status of all applicants for its jobs. It is company policy that it hires only U.S. citizens and legal immigrants."

"We do not have a contract with them," Charity Elkins, administrative assistant at the state Department of Finance and Administration's purchasing and travel office said Thursday.

DFA oversees the state budget after legislators approve it, and also oversees most state buildings.

Elkins said there's no centralized purchasing for Mississippi; each agency handles its own contracts.

David Litchliter, executive director of the Department of Information Technology Services, said his agency has "convenience" contracts for commodities, such as computers, with Howard Industries. That means a school district, for instance, could choose to negotiate with the company because it's been cleared by the state, he said.

"If Howard used the E-Verify system to check those employees, then they're not liable if they checked out," said state Sen. Lee Yancy, R-Brandon, one of the authors of the new law.
http://www.sunherald.com/306/story/795210.html

HI has received more than $50M in assistance
By Jason Niblett, newseditor@laurelleadercall.com


September 07, 2008 12:59 pm

— What began as a slow Jones County Monday morning on Aug. 25 quickly turned into an national event. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement shut down Howard Industries’ Pendorff transformer plant and the company’s headquarters in Ellisville for a day, interrogating employees and scrutinizing files. When the dust settled, 595 employees were accused of being in the country illegally. It turned out to be the largest illegal immigrant round-up in United States history.
Howard Industries has publicly responded to local and national media once since the raid started. A written statement from the company claims owners and management had no wrongdoing in the hiring of the illegal immigrants. The statement also claimed the company uses every legal background check on prospective employees.
Attorney General Jim Hood announced Friday that his office is investigating to see if Howard Industries violated any state laws. And, if the outcome through the legal system finds criminal offenses, the question of city, county, and state incentives arises. Much of Howard Industries’ recent growth has come through local tax exemptions and state-backed financial incentives.
[b]As local officials were finalizing plans for the Howard Technology Park in Ellisville in 2002, Howard Industries was also awaiting the outcome of a special session of the Mississippi Legislature. Lawmakers were scheduled to debate a $31.5 million incentive package. As reported by the Laurel Leader-Call July 28, 2002, “Last week was a busy and anxious one for local leaders as the Howard family met with (then) Gov. Ronnie Musgrove to complete the deal for the incentive package. The Howards will be investing $80 million in an expansion project for Howard Computers and a new power transformer plant.â€

Updated: Sep 10, 2008 07:49 PM PDT

MIRA Claims Mistreatment of Immigrant Detainees



By Cheryl Lasseter
cheryl@wlbt.net

According to Customs officials, on August 25, 595 illegal immigrants were arrested at Howard Industries in Laurel. Eight of them have been charged with aggravated identity theft. 106 were identified as being eligible for an alternative to detention based on humanitarian reasons.

A large number of the immigrants were taken to a customs enforcement (ICE) facility in Jena, Louisiana. The Mississippi Immigrants' Rights Alliance (MIRA) Director Bill Chandler says collect calls to his office from detainees suggest they're not being treated well.

"There were (calls) from different individuals that there were abuses, particularly holding them in recreational areas without beds, without toiletries," he says. "There's other people with medical issues, people without their medication."

Attorneys from the Alliance have headed down to Jena to corroborate some of the claims.

MIRA holds periodic meetings to inform immigrants that they have rights. They're told only to give their name and fingerprints if they're arrested by ICE.

Chandler says MIRA is raising money for the families of the detained immigrants. So far, about $30,000 has been raised to help them with living expenses.

"We're in the process, along with churches and unions, in raising money to help the families that are left behind that were dependent on those workers for income, with support for their daily lives," he says.

ICE spokesperson Temple Black says the arrested immigrants are still being processed in Jena. Black says ICE follows all laws that are mandated in holding the immigrants.

"We work very closely with state agencies, and the situation is monitored very closely," he says.

WLBT News has placed a call to the U.S. Attorney's Office to get more information on the immigrants being held in Jena.

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MIRA Claims Mistreatment of Immigrant Detainees
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