There were more than four times as many women than men arrested Wednesday in the country's largest immigration raid in 10 years, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said. The 284 workers came from 15 different countries.
The KERA Radio interview: An update on the Allen immigration raid.
ICE rounded up the undocumented immigrants at CVE Technology, a consumer electronics repair company, in the Dallas suburb of Allen.
Officials have released details of the workers, such as nationality, gender and current status.
According to ICE, of the 284 people arrested:
- 110 remain detained in custody. Some have been transferred to Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, around 30 miles south of Fort Worth.
- 174 were released for humanitarian reasons, such as being a sole caregiver, but were issued a notice to appear before an immigration judge.
There's a backlog in the U.S. immigration court system right now. Those who've been released could wait for two years to go before an immigration judge after their initial court appearance.
Of the 110 immigrants still detained:
- 9 had illegally re-entered the U.S. after having been previously deported.
- 8 had already received final orders of removal.
During the raid, agents also encountered 125 additional CVE employees who were determined to be U.S. citizens, U.S. permanent residents or they otherwise had legal status to work in the U.S., ICE said.
There were many more women arrested than men — 233 vs. 51.
More workers were from Mexico than any other country, followed by Nigeria.
The following is a list of the countries represented in the arrests along with the number of workers from each:
Mexico: 112
Nigeria: 48
El Salvador: 38
Honduras: 27
Venezuela: 25
Guatemala: 18
Colombia: 6
Nicaragua and Peru: 2 each
Bolivia, Brazil, Kenya, Liberia, South Africa and South Korea: 1 each
It's not known yet what will happen to CVE Technology. As of April 4, the company's website is down and its telephones are not working.
Christy Robinson contributed to this report. We will update it as new information becomes available.
Copyright 2019 KERA
