Napolitano orders review of Bellingham immigration raid

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has ordered a review of a raid at a Bellingham manufacturing plant that ended with the arrests of 28 illegal immigrants.

Napolitano wants to know why the Tuesday raid happened and all background information, as she looks into the case, said Homeland Security spokesman Sean Smith.

Napolitano told lawmakers during a hearing in Washington, D.C., on today that she did not know about the raid before it happened and was briefed on it early this morning. She has asked U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which conducted the raid, for answers.

"I want to get to the bottom of this as well," she said. She said work-site enforcement needs to be focused on the employers.

The raid at the Yamato Engine Specialists, Smith said, was the first work-site action that ICE has taken since President Barack Obama took office.

Obama, who appointed Napolitano, has signaled for a shift in immigration policy that would rely less on work site enforcement, focusing instead on employers who hire illegal immigrants and overall immigration reform.

ICE spokeswoman Lorie Dankers in Seattle declined to comment.

On Tuesday morning, ICE agents descended on the shop and rounded up 25 men and three women. Most of the people arrested are in custody at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, where they will await deportation proceedings. Three of the 28 were not taken to the detention center on humanitarian grounds.

Of the 28, agents found 25 Mexican nationals and one person each from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.

In a statement Tuesday, ICE officials said many of the people obtained the jobs using fake Social Security numbers and other counterfeit documents.

Shirin Dhanani Makalai, whose family owns the business, said the raid came after months of cooperating with ICE on an audit, which included providing employee rosters to federal authorities. He said his business does not advocate hiring illegal immigrants.

"We try to stay within the guidelines, within the law," Makalai said Tuesday.

Makalai added the company did not knowingly hire illegal immigrants, and that employers have no clear way of checking an employee's legal status.

Today, immigrant advocates in Seattle called on Obama to place a moratorium on raids until there's an immigration reform from Congress. For many advocates, Obama's election gave hope that work-site raids would end.

"Our immigration system is broken," said Pramila Jayapal, executive director of OneAmerica, an advocacy group. "We need comprehensive reform that recognizes the crucial contributions immigrants make to our nation, considers demand for labor and enables employers to legally hire needed immigrants workers."

Associated Press Writer Eileen Sullivan in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.