Exactly one year ago today, immigration officials rounded up 361 people, many of them from Central America, during a raid of a Michael Bianco leather-goods factory in New Bedford, Mass.

Families were separated, single mothers were taken off to jail, and at least one infant who was accustomed to nursing from his mother had to be taken to a hospital while the mother was being detained. A federal court eventually faulted the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's handling of the incident, saying it failed to properly notify social-welfare agencies before the raid and later denied caseworkers access to detainees.

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In an editorial in a local Massachusetts publication today, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts argues that a repeat of the New Bedford incident occurred in California just last month. In that incident, immigration officials raided a printer supply company in Van Nuys. Mr. Kerry, in his editorial, said that workers were rounded up and handcuffed and then denied access to families and attorneys.

"Most shockingly, given the lessons of New Bedford, workers who attempted to call family members and arrange for child care claim that agents prevented them from doing so," he wrote.