Cost of hiring illegal immigrants

Effects of raid on factory reach beyond its doors
By Ken Maguire
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Stew Milne / The Associated Press

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Michael Bianco Inc. was a success story, a small leather factory in a struggling city that landed military contracts at such a rate that its work force more than quadrupled in the span of a few years.

Federal officials said that growth was on the backs of illegal immigrants. On March 6, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement rounded up 361 workers at the waterfront factory, and arrested the company's owner and three top managers.

Yet inside the factory, sewing machines still rattle away as remaining workers continue stitching together backpacks and vests for U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Owner Francesco Insolia has been back on the job since the day after his arrest, and the company says more than 400 people have applied for jobs since the raid.

And unlikely allies have come forward in support of the company because of what's at stake: $91 million in an Army contract and hundreds of jobs in a region with an unemployment rate nearly double the national rate.