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A girl who pleaded for her father's release after the immigration raids in Mississippi finally meets him

2019-11-08T08:16:49.635Z


A video in which Magdalena Gómez Gregorio pleaded in tears for the release of her father, arrested in raids at several food processing plants in Mississippi, became vir ...


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(CNN) - Magdalena Gómez Gregorio hugged her father for the first time in months after she pleaded with tears in her eyes for her release from reporters after a raid of immigrants in Mississippi.

His father, Andrés Gómez-Jorge, was released last week after family and friends raised funds to pay his $ 7,500 bond.

Her daughter's voice was heard worldwide in a video that went viral after immigration authorities arrested hundreds of undocumented workers at various food processing plants in Mississippi in early August.

"I need my dad ... He's not a criminal," Magdalena said, sobbing while waiting with other children at a local gym that, on the day of the raids, offered food and shelter to children whose parents had been detained.

Gomez-Jorge had been working at the Morton Koch Foods plant in Morton, Mississippi, when the raids occurred. His wife, Juana, who asked to be identified only by her first name for fear of her family's safety, did not sleep for days while waiting for news about her husband.

Now, the couple and their four children are "extremely happy" to meet, but they are not sure what the future holds.

“I don't know what I will do. I don't know what will happen, ”said Gomez-Jorge, when asked about his plans.

He has not yet received a subpoena for the court and is struggling to find work. He wants to work in construction, but says jobs are scarce because it's starting to get cold.

Because Gómez-Jorge contributes all the income and is currently unemployed, the family of six members has survived thanks to donations of food and money.

No charges against employers

Three months after the raids, charges were still not filed against any of the owners or companies involved in the employment of the more than 650 undocumented workers who were arrested after the raids.

Affidavits made public after the historic raids on August 7 showed that federal agents suspected that food processing plants illegally hired undocumented workers.

On Thursday, several Democratic lawmakers from the House of Representatives National Security Commission questioned a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) official at a hearing in Mississippi and pressured him to that will explain why no employer has faced charges.

Jere Miles, a special agent in charge of the New Orleans National Security Investigations office, told commission members that no employer had been arrested as a result of the raids and said the investigation was ongoing.

Investigators confiscated 850,000 documents and 22 terabytes of information, he said.

Two of the flattened chicken processing plants have said they respected local and federal laws and participated in the E-Verify system, which is used to confirm employment eligibility for workers. Officials from two other plants did not respond to requests for comments made previously by CNN.

"As I suppose you all understand, it is a long process to build a criminal trial," noting that the execution of search warrants "is not the final step."

"Seven months from now or within a year when we finish the investigation," he said, "there will be no one to thank us."

That explanation did not suit the Democratic representative Al Green of Texas.

"You knew before coming that the laws were being violated, but you chose the undocumented person excluding employers," Green said. "This is not the way we treat people in the United States."

Dozens of workers have been charged with charges ranging from illegal re-entry to misuse of social security numbers, according to court documents.

Catherine Shoichet of CNN contributed to this report.

Immigration raids

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2019-11-08

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