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Immigration raids empty New Bedford fish plants
EFL: A waterfront sweep by the US Coast Guard and immigration authorities that resulted in the arrest of 13 men has sent panic through New Bedford's large immigrant community, causing workers at seafood processing plants to stay away from their jobs.When workers at the AML International fish processing plant arrived for their shifts at 7 a.m. Monday, officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement were waiting for them. Eight of the men, who could not provide identification, were handcuffed and loaded into a van. Officers arrested five more men at other plants. After the arrests, cellphones all over the waterfront started ringing, and fish cutters and packers from Central America, who make up the bulk of the workforce at the city's fish processing plants, fled the squat seafood warehouses. ''It didn't take long with the cellphones," said Frank Ferreira, plant manager at AML International. ''The whole city emptied out, all the plants. ''People were just leaving because they didn't want to get in trouble," Ferreira said. ''Even the legal ones left. Nobody knew what was going on. It looked like an invasion." Business owners and immigrants in New Bedford are still reeling from the arrests. Only six of AML's 40 workers showed up yesterday to cut the day's catch of monkfish, skate wings, and dogfish. And many in the city were wondering whether the raid marked a new crackdown in this period of intense national debate over immigration. ''This is going to start happening more often," said Helena Marques, executive director of the Immigrants' Assistance Center in New Bedford. ''It's only a matter of time. People are getting picked up, and then you'll see a lot of people going underground." The men arrested -- seven from Guatemala, three from El Salvador, two from México, and one from Honduras -- were taken into custody because they did not have legal immigration documents. Ten were released pending a hearing before an immigration judge, said Paula Grenier, an immigration and customs spokeswoman. Two Salvadorans, Jorge Merino Flores and Nelson Palacios Martines, were being held at the Suffolk County jail because a judge had previously ordered them deported. Another man, whose name Grenier would not release, is being held because authorities suspect him of being connected to the international gang MS-13. Posted by: Steve 2005-12-07 |
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