Family members of some of the 223 people who were rounded up over the weekend by immigration authorities during a large-scale workplace raid at a Phoenix-area car wash chain are speaking out and asking to have their relatives released. “My children are crying every night for their father, look and I don’t know how to explain to them what is happening,”…
Details"This was not an enforcement of targeting illegal immigration or illegal immigrants. It was a criminal investigation," said ICE spokesperson Barbara Gonzalez. Eric Falbe, general counsel for Danny’s Family Car Wash, says the company is cooperating with investigators. He declined further comment. "My husband doesn’t have a criminal record. My husband has dedicated his life to being a gymnast and bicyclist and to be with his children. Is that being a criminal?" asked Laura Torres. "Laura’s husband was deported 10 years ago and came back. I don’t think that is something that makes someone dangerous to the community. To me, that means that he wanted to be here with his family and he wanted to work," added Tania Unzueta of the National Day Labor Organizing Network.
Details“We are… going after businesses that are a magnet for unauthorized workers, ” said Andrew Munoz, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Munoz was explaining the events of Saturday, where 13 Danny’s Family car washes were hit in an all-day raid by ICE. “Since 2009, ICE has kind of shifted its work site enforcement strategy so we focus now on the arrest of the employers and managers (and) supervisors rather than coming in with these large scale enforcement actions that focus solely on workers.” Said Amber Cargile, ICE spokeswoman. While ICE was quick to point out that the raid was not the Joe Arpaio-style immigration raids to arrest and prosecute laborers that Maricopa County has become accustomed to, the workers at the car washes were still detained.
DetailsU.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents served arrest warrants at 16 different car wash locations in the Phoenix area on Saturday, part of a two-year federal investigation on the Danny’s Family Car Wash chain that ICE officials say was committing alleged immigration fraud, identity theft and financial violations. Federal investigators i…
DetailsA behind the scenes argument has broken out among Democrats and immigration advocates in the wake of public discussion of a so-called “Plan B” on immigration, click in which advocates would press the White House to legalize millions of undocumented immigrants via executive authority if Congress fails to act. Some have pushed the “Plan B” idea in the medi…
DetailsFederal immigration agents raided several branches of a car wash business in Phoenix, rounding up 223 workers as part of a two-year investigation into immigration fraud. Federal agents on Saturday swarmed 16 locations of Danny’s Family Car Washing and the company’s staffing service provider, HR Betty. The investigating agency, site U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the case targets the owners and leaders of the two businesses and that multiple people face charges of criminal immigration fraud, identity theft and financial violations. Fourteen people were arrested on criminal charges, four were U.S. citizens and 10 were Mexican nationals.
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