(Worthington, Mn.)– Immigration officials arrested 230 men and women in a raid on the Worthington Swift and Company plant, but officials now say none of those detained in Minnesota face criminal charges.
Tuesday’s raids netted nearly 13-hundred workers in six plants across the country.
About five percent of the overall arrests resulted in identity theft charges or other criminal violations, such as re-entry after deportation. But none of those were in Minnesota. The rest were for suspected violations of immigration laws.
According to Tim Counts, an I-C-E spokesman in Minnesota, about two dozen of those arrested in Worthington have been arrested on their own recognizance for family reasons.
Responding to concerns expressed by school and other officials, he says every single person arrested was asked whether they had any child care issues.
Local police tried to find ways to meet their obligation to help without jeopardizing relationships with their communities.
So police mostly stuck to directing traffic outside the six Swift and Company plants during the raids.
Worthington Public Safety Director Mike Cumiskey says neither Worthington police nor the county sheriff played a role in the raid in his city, though they did get advance warning.
He says his department’s long-standing policy is to keep a distance from immigration actions.
Cumiskey says his department is trying to build relationships with communities, and it’s hard to do that if his officers are out their enforcing immigration law.
(Story from the Associated Press).
