State News

State News

ICE Raid Results in Roundup of Illegal Immigrants

ALMA – Several families in Arkansas this week are living without loved ones who face charges of immigration violations after a raid in a factory in Alma.

At least 28 people were taken into custody, but the women were later released.

U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement served the warrant on the Bryant Preserving Company based on an undisclosed criminal investigation.

Arkansas United director Humberto Marquez says it's left several families with a large gap.

'The men are still currently detained and they were taken to the Washington County Jail,” Marquez explains. “A lot of those men are fathers, are husbands.'

Currently, the detainees are only suspected of having an illegal immigration status. Marquez says the raid has left a community shaken and uncertain, regardless of the company's level of involvement.

'There's plenty of people who are citizens who perhaps wouldn't be directly affected by this, but somehow it still implements fear because there's friends, neighbors, who might not have a stable status,' he states.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Arkansas declined to comment on the raid. Similar raids have taken place in Tennessee and Ohio over the last year.

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Boozman Supports Comprehensive Opioid Package

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator John Boozman (RAR) voted for a comprehensive package to respond to the opioid epidemic that is devastating communities across America.

This latest step taken by Congress to address the nation’s opioid crisis provides law enforcement with additional tools to combat the spread of opioids, helps Americans struggling with addiction and expands research into non-addictive pain treatments.

In a speech on the Senate floor, Boozman said “the comprehensive response to this crisis shows how committed we are as a nation to combatting opioid addiction.”

Boozman specifically praised the bill’s expansion of a grant program to train first responders administering naloxone—the drug that can be used to block the effects of opioids and prevent deaths from an overdose— by highlighting the lives it has saved in Arkansas.

“Since 2017, the Arkansas Naloxone Project has trained more than 3,300 first responders to administer the drug. This effort has saved at least 142 lives. The program continues to grow,” Boozman said.