NEW YORK, June 29: US justice department on Friday assured Pakistan embassy officials that it would share information about Pakistanis detained by the US authorities in their latest crackdown on “illegal immigrants” targeting jewellery shops across the country.

Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States, Maleeha Lodhi told Dawn that “we raised the issue of the latest arrests with the justice department and told them of our concern about racial profiling and perception in the community of being targeted”.

“We were told these investigations are underway without targeting any one group or nationality,” Lodhi said.

On Thursday the FBI and US immigration department officials disclosed that they had launched a joint investigation questioning about 70 “illegal immigrants,” mostly Pakistanis, working in jewellery stores across the United States.

The US law enforcement officials said the operation began on Wednesday and that some of those questioned were detained for immigration violations, they said. They said no criminal charges have been filed.

The officials said the investigation continued and they declined to provide additional details, but they minimized the importance of the case. “It’s not much. It’s not earthshaking,” one official said.

APP ADDS: The embassy has interacted with the state and justice departments as well as the INS on critical issues related to Pakistani detainees.