Protestors React to Donut Plant Immigration Bust (MyFox Houston)

Protestors React to Donut Plant Immigration Bust

Last Edited: Wednesday, 16 Apr 2008, 12:38 PM CDT

HOUSTON -- Protesters took to the streets in downtown Houston after agents raided a north side business in an illegal immigration bust.
Agents arrived before dawn Wednesday at a doughnut plant and arrested almost 30 workers suspected of being in the country illegally.
One protester's sign said the busts "break up families."
Jose Cruz, 52, is a Salvador native who was one the dozens detained, but he was later released.
"All the workers without documents were taken in," Cruz told FOX 26 News. "Thank God I always have my work permit."
Cruz's roommate is among those still in custody. The pair shared a home owned by the donut company.
Robert Rutt, the agent in charge of the Houston ICE office, says some of the others arrested lived at the Shipley Do-Nuts dough factory.
The raid was part of a nationwide crackdown on Wednesday.
Federal immigration agents raided Pilgrim's Pride poultry plants in five states Wednesday in a crackdown on an alleged scam to provide fake identification for illegal immigrant workers, authorities said.
More than 100 people were expected to be charged in the raids at the nation's largest chicken producer, Julie Myers, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement assistant secretary, told The Associated Press.
"Identity theft is a horrible problem that can ruin a person's good name," Myers said.
The raids were part of a long-term investigation, officials said. Plants in Mount Pleasant, Texas, Batesville, Ark., Live Oak,Fla., Chattanooga, Tenn. and Moorefield, W.Va., were raided, authorities said.
Authorities also arrested 45 illegal immigrants during the early morning raids in western New York, Bradford, Pa.; Mentor, Ohio; Wheeling and New Martinsville, W.Va., and Georgia.
Authorities said the workers were forced to staff the Mexican restaurants for long hours with little pay to work off smuggling fees and rent.
The restaurants' owner, Jorge Delarco of Depew, is charged with conspiring to harbor illegal aliens. He was due in court Wednesdayafternoon and it was not immediately known if he had a lawyer.