On June 12th of this year, Homeland Security Investigations conducted enforcement raids at several Asian restaurants located in State College. More than a dozen people were detained and six were reportedly deported.WPSU’s Erin Cassidy Hendrick attended a community event last night spurred by this investigation.
In light of the unexpected and unexplained raid this summer, the Penn State Law’s Center for Immigrant’s Rights presented a forum last night at the State College Municipal Building. It was named “Why State College? A Panel Discussion on the Immigration Raid in Our Community.”
The director for the Center, Shoba Wadhia, made a presentation titled “Immigration 101,” which detailed the legal aspects of immigration.
“Our goal with this event was to educate the community about immigration law and policy and to put the enforcement action that took place last summer in context,” Wadhia said.
Since no concrete details have been provided by law enforcement, the purpose of the raid in State College remains unclear. However, College borough police chief Tom King assured the community that this raid was legally executed in his comments after the lectures.
“There is an ongoing investigation by Homeland Security,” King said.
More details are expected when the Homeland Security investigation is concluded.
