64 alleged illegal aliens arrested (Bucks County Courier Times)

64 alleged illegal aliens arrested
By MATT COUGHLIN
Bucks County Courier Times
March 19, 2008 8:20 AM

A Bristol business was raided Tuesday morning and 64 alleged illegal immigrants were taken into custody.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents loaded the suspects onto buses after the bust at F.C. Young & Co. Inc. on Howell Street in the borough.
ICE spokesman Mike Gilhooly declined to release details of the investigation, but said the agency had detained 41 Guatemalan women, 14 Guatemalan men, five Mexican women, two Mexican men and two Honduran women. He said many still were being processed and that all will be charged with being illegally present in the United States.
Of the 64 people, 20 were released Tuesday afternoon due to humanitarian concerns, including taking care of their children, Gilhooly said. The 44 who have been detained will be brought before judges in the Executive Office of Immigration Review, he added.
Immigration lawyer Fabian Lima of Philadelphia said accused illegal immigrants are initially held locally and then transferred to immigration specific detention centers, including one in York. However, he said many have been taken to a location in Texas in recent months.
Gilhooly said officials gave the other 20 alleged illegal immigrants copies of their charges and if they fail to appear before the immigration judges their cases will be held "in absentia." If they are then convicted and arrested again later, most would be deported without further court proceedings, he said.
Lima said some illegal immigrants are given "voluntary departure," in which they are required to pay their own way out of the country. He said if any of those who voluntarily depart seek to return to the country in the future, they have a better chance of re-entering legally than if they had been forcibly removed.
A man inside the lobby of F.C. Young declined to comment Tuesday and said no one was available to comment. The business is in a warehouse that sits in the middle of Bath Industrial Park.
Matt Coughlin can be reached at 215-949-4172 or mcoughlin@phillyBurbs.com.