MOUNT PLEASANT Iowa (WHO) – More than 30 people were arrested Wednesday on administrative immigration violations after a Mount Pleasant, Iowa business was raided by ICE agents. Twenty-two men from Guatemala, seven from Mexico, two from Honduras and one from El Salvador were taken from inside Midwest Precast Concrete in a criminal investigation involving US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
“Students were leaving class to see if their parents were there. There’s a lot of fear in the community,” said Mount Pleasant resident Tammy Shull.
Heath Brooks, a Mt. Pleasant High School student born in Guatemala before moving to America at an early age, says even teachers were overcome with raw emotion.
“I was in class and one of my teachers had a phone call about some of her students and she started crying,” he said.
First Presbyterian Church Pastor Trey Hegar has opened his church to any children or family members impacted by the raid.
“Something tragic has happened in their family. They didn’t bring it on themselves so we want to make sure they have a place to go, that they are taken care of,” he said.
Hegar says many in the community are also questioning the methods they believe the Department of Homeland Security used to detain the men.
“How the raid happened, it wasn’t that they went in knowing who was illegal and who wasn’t. They rounded up everybody,” said Hegar.
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