Wendy Lyons, a member of the Socialist Workers Party and of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 770, chaired the event. The defense effort began when immigration cops arrested Calero on Dec. 3, 2002, and concluded successfully May 22, Lyons stated, when a New Jersey immigration judge ruled that Calero was “not deportable.”

Washington tried to deport Calero on the basis of a plea-bargain conviction when he was in high school for selling an ounce of marijuana to an undercover cop, which the INS had later waived in granting him permanent residency. In the course of the fight, Calero won the backing of unionists, journalists, immigrant rights activists, and others who then sent letters of protest to the INS, raised thousands of dollars, and heard Calero speak in cities around the United States. Calero is an associate editor of Perspectiva Mundial, a Spanish-language socialist monthly magazine published in New York, and a Militant staff writer.

“Róger is using this tour to throw the weight of his victory behind other fighters in struggle,” said Lyons, as she introduced the evening’s first speaker, Cliseria Piñeda.

“Unity makes strength,” said Piñeda, a leader of garment workers at Forever 21 in Los Angeles who have been locked in an ongoing battle with their bosses over back pay denied them following a sudden plant closure. “I thank God that this young man won his fight,” said Piñeda, a staunch supporter of the defense campaign. She asked the audience to also lend their support to the struggle of the Forever 21 workers. “We need to put an end to the super-exploitation of workers,” she said.

A worker at Farmer John, a local meatpacking plant, who had met with Calero the previous day also addressed the meeting. “I’m here first of all to express my approval and congratulations for everything that has been done to prevent the deportation of Róger Calero,” she said. The workers at Farmer John are involved in a campaign to revitalize their union and increase its membership in face of abusive actions by the bosses. The company is denying workers bathroom breaks and has sped up the line to the point that the 100 workers on the kill floor now slaughter 6,500 pigs during an eight-hour shift, she said.

José Velasquez, 20, a construction worker who had met Calero prior to his arrest at an international youth conference in Mexico, said, “When I heard what happened to Róger I knew it was my responsibility to get involved. I began gathering signatures on petitions and getting out the word about what the government was trying to do. I did all I could.” Velasquez and several other youth at the meeting will travel to Cuba to participate in the Cuba-U.S. Youth Exchange at the end of July.

Lyons read a statement sent to the meeting by Angela Sanbrano, executive director of the Central American Resource Center. “When the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced its decision to terminate deportation proceedings against Róger, it was an important victory for the immigrant community at large,” the message said. “By coming together to fight this blatant injustice, we send a message loud and clear: these attacks must stop…. Congratulations on this momentous occasion.”

“They picked the wrong fight at the wrong time, when the abuses of la migra are more and more being recognized in their rawest form,” said Calero. “They failed to see the increasing political price they would pay as we fought back loudly and publicly.”

Calero also highlighted several other struggles by fighters victimized by the government under the pretext of “national security.” Referring to a recent congressional report criticizing the Justice Department’s handling of detainees arrested in post-9/11 sweeps, Calero said, “That report says nothing about Farouk Abdel Muhti. It says nothing about Omar Jamal. It says nothing about the five Puerto Rican political prisoners who have been imprisoned the longest of all the political prisoners in the United States. And it says nothing about the five Cuban revolutionaries locked up in U.S. jails.

“The growing number of immigrants in the workforce is a test for the entire union movement,” said Calero, describing the strike of meat packers in Jefferson, Wisconsin, against Tyson Foods. Those workers, who are in their majority native-born, “are getting a crash course in how the bosses sow divisions between workers based on nationality,” he noted. The company has attempted to recruit scabs by advertising in English, Spanish, and Chinese.

Calero also recounted some of the experiences he went through while working at Dakota Premium Foods in St. Paul, Minnesota, where workers organized a sit-down strike two years ago, won a union certification election, and then waged a long struggle to force the company to sign a union contract. “Today, they continue to use the power of their union to reach out to others,” he said.

A collection among the 40 participants at the event raised $450 for the Political Rights Defense Fund (PRDF) to replenish its war chest for future battles in defense of workers rights. PRDF led the effort to launch the Róger Calero Defense Committee.
 

Lamparas, who helped lead the fight of Filipino airport screeners in San Francisco against the federalization of the airport’s workforce, has been a supporter of Calero’s case since the beginning. “Some 13,000 people [who registered with the INS last fall and winter ] are languishing in U.S. jails awaiting deportation because they don’t know how to fight,” he said. “It’s important to wage public fights to defend workers’ rights: when a fight is publicly known, the enemy backs down.”

Fogarty said that he was amazed how quickly Calero had won his case. The Irish republican Joe Dougherty “was in a holding pen for eight years in New York City,” he stated, “long enough for them to name the street in front of his jail for him. Dougherty was eventually deported; we were told at every stage that we could not win.”

Calero noted that “my defense effort was spearheaded by members of my party—the Socialist Workers Party—anchored in decades of political fights. We offer the lessons learned to other fighters to use.”

Letters of support were sent to the meeting by Riva Enteen of the National Lawyers Guild and Tim Hamaan, president of UFCW Local 120. Over $500 was collected among the 30 people in attendance to cover tour costs and to help PRDF have funds for future cases. Calero also was interviewed by El Reportero, and spoke live on Radio Unica.
 

Jonathon Moore of the Immigrants Rights Project congratulated Calero on his victory. Moore detailed many of the changes in immigration law going back to bills passed during the William Clinton administration. These laws expanded the number of convictions that are the basis for exclusion.

Adrianne Bradbury of the Hate Free Zone Campaign of Washington brought “sincere congratulations from her organization for “this victory for all.” She announced the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride, which will set off from 10 U.S. cities September 23 headed toward Washington. The freedom ride aims to focus attention on struggles of immigrant workers against discrimination on the job and their right to live in the United States.

“I will wear the label ‘non-deportable’ as a badge of honor,” Calero told the 30 people at the meeting. He discussed the goals of his tour that began June 19 in Houston.

“Some of the principles of our defense were that the effort was open to anyone. We did not subordinate the defense to any political party and had no illusions in any institutions of the capitalist system. When we were advised not to provoke the courts by a public defense, we stayed the course, and showed no panic or fear in the face of the government’s attacks. We acted on the understanding that in the class struggle, when we can’t change the course, we can make the ruling class pay a political price for their assaults on our rights.”

The meeting raised $831 to cover the costs of the tour and make sure that PRDF has funding when it is over.  
 
 
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