90 Detained As Sandusky Immigration Investigation Continues

It’s been almost a week since Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials raided a gardening center with locations in Sandusky and Castalia, Ohio, arresting over 100 workers.

ICE had been investigating Corso’s Flower and Garden Center for complaints including suspected tax evasion and identity theft.

There are several Ohio groups advocating for detainees and their families as ICE continues its investigation.

Advocacy group HOLA Ohio is one of them. HOLA Ohio’s Executive Director Veronica Dahlberg said she and others spent all day Sunday with a representative from the Mexican Consulate, meeting individually with families and children of those detained.

“We got gift cards in their hands, tried to get them answers in terms of their loved ones who were being detained, we consulted with attorneys by phone,” said Dahlberg. “It was just a mixed bag of things.”

HOLA Ohio and other organizations have been collecting donations for detainees’ prison accounts as well as money for their families to pay the bills.

“By our count, over 200 children are now contending with one or both of their parents in detention, just from one day to the next,” said Dahlberg.

A few of the 114 detained last week were released because of medical or family issues, Dahlberg says. ICE confirms there are still approximately 90 people in detention centers in Michigan and Ohio.

Corso’s Flower and Garden Center released a statement last Thursday, saying the company was not aware of any “false, fraudulent, or otherwise disingenuous identification documents or other documents to secure employment at Corso’s.”

ICE says it is in the early stages of its investigation and would not comment on deportation plans.

Dahlberg says her group’s next step is to make sure detainees have any medications they might need.

Marches are scheduled all over the country for Thursday, including one in Cleveland, opposing the Trump administration policy of separating families that enter the US illegally.

No charges have been filed against Corso's Flower and Garden Center.