U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained 160 workers at Load Trail, a trailer manufacturing company that was previously charged with knowingly hiring undocumented immigrants for labor, federal authorities said.
The workers were taken into custody as Texas agents executed a criminal search warrant at the company’s Sumner, Texas, facility, located about 100 miles northeast of Dallas.
The search involved multiple helicopters and more than 300 federal agents from New Orleans, Houston and San Antonio, according to Katrina Berger, Homeland Security’s special-agent-in-charge of investigations. It did not result in any criminal arrests, but that could change in the coming weeks as the investigation goes on, according to Berger, who called the firm one of the “fastest-growing trailer brands.”
Immigration Detainees Cite “Deplorable Conditions” Inside Stewart Facility in Lawsuit
Immigration detainees being held in the Stewart Detention Center in South Georgia have a filed a federal lawsuit against the for-profit company that operates the 2,000-bed facility, citing “deplorable conditions” inside the prison.
Plaintiffs Wilhen Barrientos, Margarito Velazquez-Galicia and Shoaib Ahmed, current and former Stewart detainees, brought the federal class-action lawsuit against CoreCivic Inc.
The suit was brought under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and the plaintiffs allege that CoreCivic operates a “deprivation scheme” in which it forces detainees to work through threats of physical violence, solitary confinement and deprivation of basic necessities. “CoreCivic does not adequately furnish detainees with basic hygiene products like toilet paper, soap, lotion, or toothpaste,” the suit claims.
Arizona School-Choice Backers Promote Vouchers to Undocumented Immigrants
A group promoting school choice in Arizona is marketing the state’s controversial voucher program to Spanish-speaking parents by telling them immigration status isn’t a barrier to receiving public money to attend private school.
Kim Martinez, Arizona communications director for American Federation for Children, said immigration status isn’t a factor when applying for an Education Savings Account (ESA). “We care about giving children access to the K-12 education of their family’s choice, in full compliance with the law. We don’t take positions on tangential immigration issues,” Martinez said in a statement. “Immigration status does not play a factor in ESA eligibility, just like it does not affect whether or not a child can attend an Arizona public school.”
But state Sen. John Kavanagh, said he opposes marketing ESAs to people who are in the country illegally. “We passed ESA to promote good education, not illegal immigration,” Kavanagh said. “I strongly object to someone to try to divert public funding to people who are here illegally.”
