In Laurel, Miss., where 595 suspected illegal immigrants were arrested in an ICE raid on a Howard Industries plant earlier this month, the fall-out has yet to settle. The ACLU is investigating charges that workers were segregated by ethnicity and arrested immigrants denied counsel. Locally, the families of arrested immigrants are living in uncertainty, while U.S. born workers expressed gratitude to ICE for freeing up nearly 600 jobs.

When arrested immigrants and their families heard that pay was being withheld, immigrant advocates protested. Vicky Cintra, of Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance, an organization representing the alleged illegal immigrants, told the Leader Call that she would call on the IRS and the Department of Labor to intervene on the workers’ behalf.

Meanwhile, Howard Industries, which makes electrical parts, issued a statement denying complicity in the illegal hirings:

Howard Industries has always conducted its hiring practices in strict compliance with federal, state and local laws and regulations. It is the policy of Howard Industries to hire only U.S. citizens or those who have legal authorization to work in the U.S. We have not knowingly hired anyone who was not legally authorized to work in the U.S.

Like most of the companies involved in recent immigration raids, Howard officials have not been charged with any crimes.

A sign in Laurel. (AP Photo)