After Raid, Laurel's Inter-Racial Bonds Still Strong

On Aug. 25, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents rushed into a sprawling Howard Industries transformer plant just outside town, arresting 595 undocumented workers and exposing the extent to which local businesses had begun to tap immigrant labor. Some tensions that had built under the surface for a long while received a public airing -- especially worries about whether illegal immigrants were taking jobs from poor locals.