Yesterday's arrests reflect a surge in ICE enforcement efforts in recent years. As of May, ICE had arrested about 2,900 people on immigration violations in the fiscal year that began in October. That figure includes 850 arrests in its crack down on employers and workers. More than $30 million in criminal fines, restitution, seizures and civil judgments have been levied in connection with such raids.
Before the Department of Homeland Security was established in 2003, such criminal charges were virtually unheard of, even though congressional immigration reform in 1968 had criminalized the hiring of illegal immigrants. In 2002, for instance, ICE arrested 485 people on immigration violations and just 25 on criminal charges.
In the Baltimore region, stepped up enforcement has alerted employers and sent fear through immigrant communities. High-profile sweeps have included the arrest last March of 69 employees of a staffing company providing workers to sportswear maker Under Armour Inc. and other local businesses, as well as the arrest of 24 men last January at a popular Southeast Baltimore gathering spot for day labors.
FOR THE RECORD - An article in the July 1 Maryland section about an immigration raid on an Annapolis painting company incorrectly reported the date of a congressional measure that criminalized the hiring of illegal immigrants. The reform took effect in 1986.
THE SUN REGRETS THE ERROR
Although agents said the arrests were not a part of a targeted enforcement strategy, they sent shock waves through Baltimore's burgeoning Latino immigrant population.
Yesterday's arrests netted 36 men and 10 women, from such countries as El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nigeria and Panama. The workers will be transferred to ICE detention facilities while they await removal proceedings, Rittenberg said.
In addition, five women were processed for removal, but not taken into custody, because they were the sole caregiver for their family, including one woman who is pregnant, Rittenberg said. The agency will mail these workers information notifying them of court dates, where a judge will determine whether they have a legal right to remain in the country.
Immigrant advocates have been critical of the agency's enforcement strategies after several high-profile raids several years ago separated parents from their children and detained pregnant women.
Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold held a news conference across the street from the Housley Avenue business yesterday morning, saying that companies that hire illegal immigrants receive an unfair advantage that would not be tolerated in the county.
"Illegal means illegal in Anne Arundel County," Leopold said yesterday.
