More Than A Dozen Children Plead For Immigration Officials To Release Their Fathers
(CBS) -- More than a dozen children gathered at a West Side church Sunday asking immigration officials to release their fathers.
WBBM's Mariam Sobh reports the children waived American flags as they said the Pledge of Allegiance.
12-year-old Lizbeth Barrera read a letter she wrote to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.
"My dad helps me in math homework," she said. "Without him, my grades will go down. My dad is not a criminal."
Her father was one of eight empoyees the Mundelein-based Ruprecht Meat Packing Company detained by ICE officials last week.
One mother told WBBM she can't afford the money needed for her ex-husband's bond and her children are devastated.
ICE released a statement saying, "Special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) conducted an enforcement operation July 8-9 targeting convicted criminal aliens who fall within ICE's enforcement priorities for deportation. Following are some of the criminal convictions of the eight aliens arrested by HSI: domestic battery, drunk driving, theft and felony fraud. HSI identified these criminal aliens during a routine administrative (I-9) audit at Ruprecht Company that remains ongoing."
