Immigrants from raid to stay in jail
December 23, 2008
By Andy Grimm
Post-Tribune staff writer
HAMMOND -- Five illegal immigrants facing criminal charges after a workplace raid at the BP?refinery in Whiting two weeks ago will spend the holidays in jail, either awaiting trial or detention hearings.
Attorneys requested delay of detention hearings for three of the defendants while awaiting information from Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and two others pleaded innocent and will await trial dates in 2009.
Across from the courthouse, supporters marched and chanted at passing cars, including the children of Hammond resident Roman Torrano-Ramirez, who carried a sign that read "FREE MY DAD."
Kathy Quezada, a 17-year-old student at Hammond's Clark High?School and the oldest of defendant Maria Patricia Areja-Cali's four children, said her mother's arrest has put a strain on her family.
"It's really hard not having my mom at home," Quezada said. "We have a lot of family helping us out, but the kids keep asking when she's coming home, especially the 3-year-old."
During the Dec. 10 raid, immigration officials arrested 15 people -- one Guatemalan, the rest Mexican -- and have released 10 to home detention. Only five of those arrested face criminal charges.
The raid stemmed from a two-year investigation of United Building Maintenance, an Illinois janitorial company hired by BP. Authorities began investigating after receiving a tip that undocumented workers were employed by UBM and had access to sensitive areas of the plant, which Homeland Security officials see as a potential threat to public safety.
Authorities have said none of those indicted posed a threat to the plant or to national security.
http://www.post-trib.com/news/lake/1344593,lcimmigrants.article
