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Immigration Raid Under Investigation

U.S. Rep. William Delahunt said Sunday that there would be a Congressional investigation into the immigration raid at a leather goods factory last week that left dozens of families in turmoil here.

The House Subcommittee on Immigration eventually will hold hearings on the roundup of 361 alleged illegal immigrants — mostly women from Central America — at Michael Bianco Inc., a company that made backpacks and other equipment and apparel for the U.S. military.

Social service workers in New Bedford said about 100 children were stuck with baby sitters, caretakers and others after the raid. Governor Deval Patrick said Thursday the children of the detainees (most of whom are from Guatemala and El Salvador) might not be receiving proper care.

"Obviously this is just total chaos," said Delahunt, D-Mass. "Right now we have confusion and people distraught over having no information over where their family members are."

Delahunt joined Sens. Edward Kennedy and John Kerry and U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, all Democrats, at a meeting of family members Sunday at a New Bedford church, which has served as a clearinghouse since the Tuesday raid.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said 60 immigrants detained were freed within hours of the raid because they were determined to be sole caregivers to their children.

But Massachusetts Department of Social Services spokeswoman Denise Monteiro said one 27-year-old woman was held in custody for two nights while her 7-month-old child had to be hospitalized for dehydration because the infant refused to drink baby formula. The mother was released by federal authorities Thursday night.

"There was no excuse for their not being absolutely 100 percent certain that children would not be victims," Frank said.

CBS affiliate WPRI reported that approximately 200 detainees were flown to ICE detainee centers after initially being taken to the former Fort Devens military base in Texas. About 90 were taken to a detention center in Texas; another 116 were flown to New Mexico.

A group of Massachusetts social service workers traveled to Texas to interview detainees there, while a judge ordered that no more detainees be sent out of state for now.

ICE spokesman Marc Raimondi said officials planned the raid for months, and coordinated with local and state agencies.

"All of our operations are very well planned and coordinated and there's an extensive amount of planning that they go smoothly," Raimondi said.

He said ICE continued to work with DSS officials and were not aware of any child left in an inappropriate or risky situation.

Meanwhile, WPRI also reported that, while the Defense Department has suspended future contracts with Michael Bianco, Inc., the company's current DOD contract — an $83 million deal to make military backpacks — is still open, and the company has announced it is hiring.

Workers at the factory who are legal expressed concern that their jobs are jeopardized by the raid and its fallout.

"What they do, it's not fair," Maria Linhares told WPRI news correspondent Jarrod Holbrook. "We need to work here, we need this job open. We have kids. And they just think about the illegal people. About us? Nobody defends us."

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