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30 children left behind after immigration raid

ARKADELPHIA, Ark. - About 30 children, some as young as 3 months, were left without their parents after immigration agents raided a poultry plant and took the parents away to face possible deportation.

While some of the arrested workers were able to call and arrange care for their children, others were not and a local church had to help make arrangements.

"A lot of those families had kids in day care in different places, and they didn't know why Mommy and Daddy didn't come pick them up," Arkadelphia Mayor Charles Hollingshead said.

Federal agents arrested 119 people Tuesday in a raid that was triggered after a former worker at Petit Jean Poultry said she supplied others with fake identification cards. Authorities said 115 of those arrested were from Mexico.

Temple Black, a spokesman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office, said Friday that each person arrested was asked whether they had children and they all said they did not.

However, Black later said some of those arrested told agents their children were with relatives. Children are normally placed with relatives until their parents are either released or deported.

Jose Luis Vidal said his sister and brother-in-law left behind children ages 10, 5 and 1 as they were deported to Mexico. His sister is trying to arrange a work permit to return, he said.

Clark County Sheriff Troy Tucker said agents failed to tell his agency about the raid. If they had, deputies would have made sure the immigration officials knew about the children, he said.

"The kids were just left," Tucker said. "They're not doing their job by simply questioning them and asking them whether they have children and not contacting anyone locally."

[Last modified July 30, 2005, 01:10:15]