05:50 PM CDT on Saturday, June 28, 2008
By Rosa Flores / 11 News
HOUSTON -- Maria Perez swam across the Rio Grande River to Texas when she was 16 years old.
“A coyote helped me cross. I remember running through the woods. I was scared for snakes,” Perez told 11 News in Spanish.
“I kept telling myself, I just want to send money back to my parents and brothers and sisters,” she said.
Perez worked for many different employers once she made it to Houston.
She said she’s worked in restaurants, homes and for rag companies.
But her last employer made news headlines.
That’s because Perez’s employer, Action Rags USA, was the location of the biggest immigration raid in Houston history.
About 200 ICE agents swarmed the facility earlier this week, taking 166 employees into custody.
Twelve of those employees were pregnant women. Perez is one of those 12.
“Immigration asked who is pregnant, and they questioned us first,” Perez said.
She said the agents were very humane with all of the immigrants they questioned.
However, she can’t say the same thing about the working conditions at Action Rags USA.
“There were very few fans running inside. It was very hot inside,” she said.
On Saturday, a group of local activists demonstrated against ICE raids like the one at Action Rags.
They believe such raids just target the working class.
“Where you are willing to do the filthiest, hardest work for nothing, so your family can keep body and soul together,” protester Njeri Shakur said.
But for many families like Perez’s, their fate now lies in the hands of a federal judge.
Perez said that while she waits for her summons, she’s putting a deportation plan together.
It’s a notarized letter with details she hopes will help reunite her with her children in Mexico if she’s deported. Her children are U.S. citizens.
11 News could not find a spokesperson for Action Rags USA to comment Saturday.
But earlier in the week, the company’s lawyer said the facility is OSHA inspected, and they did not knowingly hire illegal immigrants.
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