Federal review of Bianco raid ordered
The inspector general of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has pledged to review Immigration Customs and Enforcement's actions during last year's Michael Bianco raid, which politicians and immigrant advocates say caused a "humanitarian crisis" by tearing families apart.
Inspector General Richard L. Skinner has agreed to launch a general review into the concerns raised in a letter that Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., sent just four days after the March 6, 2007, raid, an agency spokeswoman told The Standard-Times Thursday.
Sen. Kerry requested a "thorough investigation" into the agency's handling of the raid after immigration agents stormed the leather factory and nabbed 361 illegal workers, mostly women with young children. Detainees were quickly shipped off to detention centers in Texas, where some languished for months before being released and reunited with their families. Those who were not deported face hearings before a federal immigration judge.
"I am very concerned that there was a systematic failure in preparing for and executing the New Bedford immigration raid," Sen. Kerry wrote in a March 10 letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.
"It is for that reason I am copying DHS Inspector General Richard Skinner on this letter and asking for a thorough investigation into how the raid was prepared and how it was executed," he wrote. "I believe the situation in New Bedford has become a classic example of what not to do in an immigration raid and I hope that we can have your agency's full cooperation in rectifying this crisis."
Tamara Faulkner, a spokeswoman for Homeland Security's Inspector General's Office, said it is "way too early to know what exactly will be the scope of the review."
While a general review does not have to meet the same standards as an audit, Ms. Faulkner said the office would "look at the issue as seriously and as deeply as we can."
It will start by putting "a team on the ground to talk to people" about the raid, she said.
The review will take about eight months to complete and will result in a published report, which could include recommendations for ICE, she said.
"I am pleased that the inspector general is taking this matter seriously and going forward with the investigation that I have requested," Sen. Kerry said in a statement. "Hopefully, we will finally get the truth about what happened in New Bedford. The families and community deserve as much."
ICE spokeswoman Pat Reilly defended the agency's conduct during the Bianco raid.
"We feel confident that the inspector general will not find anything remiss," she said. "We stand by what we did in New Bedford. We always comport ourselves in a professional manner."
Ms. Reilly noted that her agency has had no notification about the inspector general's review.
She described the Bianco raid as a "worksite enforcement that turns off the magnet for illegal immigration.
"We've done it throughout the country and we always do it to a very high standard," she said. "I think we've been very transparent about what we did at New Bedford and why we did it and what was subsequently done with the people who we arrested."
In November, following conversations with U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and U.S. Rep. William D. Delahunt, both D-Mass., ICE codified its guidelines for treating illegal immigrants and their families during raids involving more than 150 workers. The guidelines, which were distributed to ICE personnel, were not new rules, but rather existing rules pulled together into a single document, Ms. Reilly said.
Sen. Kerry's letter to Mr. Chertoff is loaded with questions about the treatment of detainees during and after the raid. He asks how soon detainees were given access to Department of Social Services representatives and whether any effort was made to keep them closer to Massachusetts. He questions what steps ICE took to make sure that children would not be stranded as a result of the raid.
The letter also raises questions about how much ICE knew about Michael Bianco Inc.'s contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense. Workers at the factory sewed backpacks and safety vests for the military under a federal contract.
"In addition to my concerns about the innocent children swept up in the aftermath of this raid, I also have significant questions about how a target of an ICE criminal investigation could also be the recipient of lucrative DOD contracts," Sen. Kerry wrote in the letter.
Contact Becky W. Evans at revans@s-t.com
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