NEW BEDFORD, Mass. -- Federal immigration officials are under fire Wednesday for the way they conducted an immigration sweep at a New Bedford leather goods plant on Tuesday.

NewsCenter 5's Amalia Barreda reported that more than 300 workers at Michael Bianco's Inc. were arrested during the raid. Most of the workers arrested were women. On Wednesday, 60 detainees were released because they had children to take care of and eight were released because they were pregnant.

Federal immigration officials said they notified state officials and the Department of Social Services before the raid that children of detained workers would need help.

"I haven't seen something more terrible than this because immigration come in like animals," said worker Rosa Respero.

Respero said panic broke out when 300 state and federal immigration agents raided the factory on Tuesday.

"A lot of the fathers, they come to me and come to my wife in the middle of the night to ask how to prepare a bottle for the babies. This is not right," said community advocate Rene Moreno.

At a news conference on Wednesday, family and friends of the detainees talked about the hardships they face.

Carlos Miranda said his wife was arrested, leaving him as the sole caregiver of their 9-month-old daughter. He said he cannot feed the baby because his wife was breast-feeding.

"It's an injustice knowing we come to work, not to steal. What I need is for them to return my wife so I can go back to my country," Miranda said.

The Rev. Marc Fallon of Catholic Social Services said the government's claim that the raid was organized and had the cooperation of local agencies is not true.

"This government cannot even keep track of the millions of dollars they have spent on Homeland Security. They need 300 agents to detain 350 impoverished, campesinos from rural Central and Latin America," he said.

It is unclear how many children were affected by the raid.

Gov. Deval Patrick also raised concerns about the children caught in the middle of the Tuesday's raid.

Patrick sent a letter to Rep. Bill Delahunt asking for the state social services to have access to the workers. The letter reads, "We are requesting your help to be allowed to have staff on site to assist families traumatized by this devastating event."

So far, there has been no response from Delahunt's office.

An information hot line was set up at: 508-992-9408.