KSHB 41 anchor/reporter JuYeon Kim covers agricultural issues and the fentanyl crisis. Share your story idea with JuYeon.
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A federal judge in Chicago ruled last week the arrests of 12 El Porto Mexican restaurant employees in Liberty, Mo., during an ICE operation in February were illegal.
The judge claimed ICE agents violated a previous court agreement prohibiting them from arresting undocumented people without warrants or probable cause. The judge said both were lacking in this case.
At the time of the arrests, Clay County Sheriff Will Akin told KSHB 41 that federal agents were there looking for a person wanted on a warrant for a child sex crime.
But KSHB 41 anchor Caitlin Knute found out through new court documents last week that ICE agents went to El Potro looking for someone with a felony narcotics conviction, not a warrant for child sex crimes.
Since the judge’s ruling that the ICE operation was illegal, a viewer reached out to KSHB 41 asking what happened to the employees who were arrested.
On Tuesday, I sat down with immigration attorney Rekha Sharma-Crawford who is representing the El Potro employees. She told me eleven of the 12 employees are still in the U.S. and one left the country.
“They are very relieved," Sharma-Crawford said. "They understand that its not necessary at the end of the process or even the end of the case, per say, but certainly they are relieved to say that what, you know, some indication there to say what happened to them was not right. Could immigration go in and actually get warrants and do it correctly and restart the process? I mean, yes they could, right? But at this point, we’re waiting on the immigration judge here to make the ruling that is consistent with the federal court’s holding.”
The 11 employees remaining the U.S. are out on bond from the original arrest. Court pleadings, motions and documents are pending before the immigration court.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security told me, “DHS complies with all lawful court orders and is addressing this matter with the court."
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