UNION TOWNSHIP - Federal immigration agents charged and released 53 juveniles and 29 adults Thursday following a sweep for illegal aliens at a West Chester packaging firm.
Federal agents Wednesday arrested 129 workers at the Chesapeake Display and Packaging Co. and accused them of illegally working in this country.
"There are no juvenile facilities to hold anyone," explained William J. Ring Jr., officer in charge of the Cincinnati office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).
"Our operating instructions require an approved juvenile facility or the juveniles must be released to a close family member, even though that family member may be an illegal alien."
Authorities detained 47 adults - 43 men and four women - and transported them to Philadelphia, where they await a hearing before a federal immigration judge, said Robert Brown, the INS district director based in Cleveland.
The youths ranged in age from 12-17. Thirty-two of the 53 youths were from Guatemala. One youth was from Honduras, and 20 were from Mexico.
Mr. Ring admitted that flight was a possibility for those released.
"But it is in their best interests to appear and present their best evidence," he said. "A judge can rule for deportation in their absence, and a voluntary departure allows an open door for their legal return to the U.S. That is not possible with deportation." Chesapeake and AccuStaff remain under investigation by the INS and the U.S. Department of Labor.
Chesapeake company officials at the West Chester plant did not comment Thursday, and telephone calls to AccuStaff offices in Jacksonville, Fla., were not returned.
Chesapeake officials issued a news release from their Richmond, Va., headquarters denying any wrongdoing. They said AccuStaff, a company that employs 400,000 temporary workers with annual revenues of $2 billion, was a vendor for Chesapeake.
Stephanie Williams, a former AccuStaff employee, told The Enquirer she alerted Chesapeake officials in mid-July that she thought Social Security numbers of workers at the plant had been falsified, because the numbers were in sequential order and duplicated. "Chesapeake's attitude was 'What are we supposed to do?' " Ms. Williams said.
"I was a secretary with a social conscience. There were 13-year-olds working there. You walked through the plant and you could tell. Everybody ignored it. I told AccuStaff about my concerns on July 16. I was let go on July 18."
Ms. Williams said she is still seeking permanent employment.
FIRM FACES U.S. PROBE; TAX DEAL UNDER FIRE
Previous stories
FEDS ARREST 117 WORKERS AS ILLEGALS August 7, 1997
LOWER PRICE HILL DRAWS IMMIGRANTS August 7, 1997
