It's about time! I hope they make a real example out of Mr. Insolia
http://www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/NEWS/703070636/1116
Illegal workers taken to Devens
Agents nab 400 in New Bedford
By M. Elizabeth Roman TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
[email protected]
DEVENS— They came in waves through the night. A parade of buses, with every window shuttered in white paper, pulled up slowly to the gated compound of the Devens Reserve Forces Training Area last night.
Inside, about 400 illegal workers apprehended in a raid yesterday at a New Bedford leather company were being separated by gender, given a bed assignment and told to wait for processing that could take up to four days.
“It’s organized chaos,” Bruce E. Chadbourne said. “We’ll be processing people 24-7 until it’s done.”
Mr. Chadbourne, Boston-based field director of Apprehension, Detention & Removal for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said it took about a month to prepare the Devens area before the raid. His department is a section of the federal Department of Homeland Security.
About 700 agents were called from all over the country to complete what was the fourth largest such raid conducted in the country, he said.
Local catering, medical services, public health services, 24-hour ambulance, telephone service, movers and a fence company had to be hired and put into place from scratch before the 8 a.m. raid, in which two-thirds of Michael Bianco Inc.’s 500 employees were arrested. The company produces various products, including lightweight backpacks, to fulfill $91 million in military contracts.
About 10 pregnant females were released shortly after the raid, Mr. Chadbourne said. They will receive a summons to appear in court.
Mr. Chadbourne said he chose the Devens site because it had dorms used at times to house military personnel.
Two barracks and a processing area on the 5,000-acre U.S. Army facility are being used for the operation. Though the base closed in 1996, the site supports military and other federal activities.
Temperatures hovered around zero degrees, with wind chill about 20 degrees below zero last night.
Mr. Chadbourne said groups of about a dozen people were being taken from their sleeping quarters into a large processing area throughout the evening. There, they were moved through about 40 stations where agents recorded biometrics and personal histories into a computer catalog.
“They are very subdued,” Mr. Chadbourne said of the detainees’ mood. “They are cooperative and calm. Well, they have a lot of company.”
He said about 60 percent of those arrested were from Guatemala. The second largest group was from El Salvador, followed by Brazilians. The women outnumbered men arrested 2-to-1.
After processing, the workers are entitled to a hearing. Many will be moved to detention areas in Texas or wherever the agency has space.
“Many will be flown home,” Mr. Chadbourne said.
Rumors of a raid on illegal immigrants had been circulating in the Leominster-Fitchburg area for several days.
At Monday’s Fitchburg School Committee meeting Superintendent of Schools Andre R. Ravenelle reassured parents and students that a raid of that type would not happen in the Leominster-Fitchburg area.
The owner of the New Bedford leather company, Francesco Insolia, 50, and three top managers were arrested after the raid yesterday. He is accused of hiring hundreds of illegal immigrants to work in “sweat shop” conditions to meet the demands of the military contracts.
The sweep caused such chaos that some workers tried to flee, only to be turned back by the bitter cold, said Bruce Foucart, customs enforcement special agent in charge.
U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan accused Mr. Insolia of exploiting the illegal workers to maximize his profits on the military contracts.
Mr. Sullivan said workers were paid about $7 to $7.50 per hour and Mr. Insolia set up “deplorable conditions,” including docking employees $15 for every minute they were late, and $20 fines for spending more than two minutes in the bathroom or talking while working.
“Insolia intentionally seeks out illegal aliens because they are more desperate to find employment and thus more likely to endure the severe workplace conditions he has imposed,” Mr. Sullivan said.
In an affidavit, investigators claimed Mr. Insolia, plant manager Dilia Costa, payroll manager Ana Figueroa and office manager Gloria Melo allowed an undercover officer posing as an illegal immigrant to continue working at the plant, and Ms. Figueroa advised her how to obtain a fake Social Security card.
The investigation began after an informant tipped off federal officials, Mr. Sullivan said.
Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.
http://www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/NEWS/703070636/1116
Illegal workers taken to Devens
Agents nab 400 in New Bedford
By M. Elizabeth Roman TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
[email protected]
DEVENS— They came in waves through the night. A parade of buses, with every window shuttered in white paper, pulled up slowly to the gated compound of the Devens Reserve Forces Training Area last night.
Inside, about 400 illegal workers apprehended in a raid yesterday at a New Bedford leather company were being separated by gender, given a bed assignment and told to wait for processing that could take up to four days.
“It’s organized chaos,” Bruce E. Chadbourne said. “We’ll be processing people 24-7 until it’s done.”
Mr. Chadbourne, Boston-based field director of Apprehension, Detention & Removal for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said it took about a month to prepare the Devens area before the raid. His department is a section of the federal Department of Homeland Security.
About 700 agents were called from all over the country to complete what was the fourth largest such raid conducted in the country, he said.
Local catering, medical services, public health services, 24-hour ambulance, telephone service, movers and a fence company had to be hired and put into place from scratch before the 8 a.m. raid, in which two-thirds of Michael Bianco Inc.’s 500 employees were arrested. The company produces various products, including lightweight backpacks, to fulfill $91 million in military contracts.
About 10 pregnant females were released shortly after the raid, Mr. Chadbourne said. They will receive a summons to appear in court.
Mr. Chadbourne said he chose the Devens site because it had dorms used at times to house military personnel.
Two barracks and a processing area on the 5,000-acre U.S. Army facility are being used for the operation. Though the base closed in 1996, the site supports military and other federal activities.
Temperatures hovered around zero degrees, with wind chill about 20 degrees below zero last night.
Mr. Chadbourne said groups of about a dozen people were being taken from their sleeping quarters into a large processing area throughout the evening. There, they were moved through about 40 stations where agents recorded biometrics and personal histories into a computer catalog.
“They are very subdued,” Mr. Chadbourne said of the detainees’ mood. “They are cooperative and calm. Well, they have a lot of company.”
He said about 60 percent of those arrested were from Guatemala. The second largest group was from El Salvador, followed by Brazilians. The women outnumbered men arrested 2-to-1.
After processing, the workers are entitled to a hearing. Many will be moved to detention areas in Texas or wherever the agency has space.
“Many will be flown home,” Mr. Chadbourne said.
Rumors of a raid on illegal immigrants had been circulating in the Leominster-Fitchburg area for several days.
At Monday’s Fitchburg School Committee meeting Superintendent of Schools Andre R. Ravenelle reassured parents and students that a raid of that type would not happen in the Leominster-Fitchburg area.
The owner of the New Bedford leather company, Francesco Insolia, 50, and three top managers were arrested after the raid yesterday. He is accused of hiring hundreds of illegal immigrants to work in “sweat shop” conditions to meet the demands of the military contracts.
The sweep caused such chaos that some workers tried to flee, only to be turned back by the bitter cold, said Bruce Foucart, customs enforcement special agent in charge.
U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan accused Mr. Insolia of exploiting the illegal workers to maximize his profits on the military contracts.
Mr. Sullivan said workers were paid about $7 to $7.50 per hour and Mr. Insolia set up “deplorable conditions,” including docking employees $15 for every minute they were late, and $20 fines for spending more than two minutes in the bathroom or talking while working.
“Insolia intentionally seeks out illegal aliens because they are more desperate to find employment and thus more likely to endure the severe workplace conditions he has imposed,” Mr. Sullivan said.
In an affidavit, investigators claimed Mr. Insolia, plant manager Dilia Costa, payroll manager Ana Figueroa and office manager Gloria Melo allowed an undercover officer posing as an illegal immigrant to continue working at the plant, and Ms. Figueroa advised her how to obtain a fake Social Security card.
The investigation began after an informant tipped off federal officials, Mr. Sullivan said.
Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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I don't feel one ounce of sorry for her...
