ICE Inhumanity

A dozen Latino workers at a Tennessee cheese factory went weeks without pay and endured an abusive work environment before demanding paychecks from an employer, who then had them arrested, jailed and threatened with deportation, according to a lawsuit filed today by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

The federal lawsuit charges that Durrett Cheese Sales of Manchester, Tenn., its president and several members of the Coffee County Sheriff's Department conspired to violate the rights of the workers by falsely charging them with trespassing after they stopped working and demanded paychecks that had been delayed several weeks.

By Anabelle Garay, The Associated Press

Williamson County commissioners told the county attorney on Tuesday to draft a notice telling the federal government that they don’t plan to renew a contract next year for a detention center that houses immigrant families. The county owns the building in Taylor that contains the T. Don Hutto Family Residential Facility, a former state prison where immigrant families are held while their immigration cases are decided.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement contracts with Corrections Corp. of America to run the facility. The contract expires on Oct. 2, 2008.