The Militant - March 19, 2007 -- Conference in Connecticut protests raids by immigration, demands release of those arrested workers

Vol. 71/No. 11 March 19, 2007

Conference in Connecticut protests raids by
immigration, demands release of those arrested workers

BY TIM CRAINE
DANBURY, Connecticut—A February 25 forum at Western Connecticut State University (WCSU) here featured workers and others fighting back against recent immigration raids. The event was sponsored by the WCSU Latin American Student Organization, a Danbury-based coalition called Stop The Raids, the Western Connecticut Central Labor Council, and the Graduate Employees Student Organization at Yale University.

Among the several hundred people at the rally were local day laborers fighting deportation. On September 19, 11 workers originally from Ecuador were arrested in a sting operation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and taken to Boston.

According to a defense committee statement, seven were later sent to a prison in Texas. Their family members were denied information on the arrests and the whereabouts of their relatives. A campaign to free the workers resulted in nine being released on bail. These nine have since spoken to unionists, students, and others to win support for their case, recounting the arbitrary and brutal treatment meted out to them and other immigrants by ICE.

The meeting’s featured speakers were two meat packers from the Swift plant in Hyrum, Utah, one of six nationwide raided by ICE on December 12. Hundreds of Swift workers were arrested during the raids, and dozens of them were charged with “identity theft.”

Anabel Pimentel, a worker originally from Mexico who has lived in the United States for 18 years, described workers’ anger and shock as they watched friends and relatives rounded up in the plant and carted off in handcuffs. Pimentel was left to care for her in-laws’ two-year-old child after both parents were arrested. Both remain in custody.

Rosa López, who is originally from El Salvador and has lived in the United States for 19 years, spoke about how her niece was arrested during the plant raid. ICE agents also arrested López’s daughter-in-law at her home that morning. López told how she and other workers at the plant got information about the families of the arrested workers before they were hauled off so that they could organize care for the children left behind.

Rejecting the charge that packinghouse workers were engaged in “identify theft,” López demanded that those in detention be released and given their legal right to work. She concluded by saying, “Stop the raids! We are not criminals!”

Eddy Acosta, coordinator for the national partnership between the AFL-CIO and National Day Laborer Organizing Network, spoke on the importance of labor supporting immigrant rights, pointing out that the raids benefit the employers by instilling fear in all workers.

Juan Garcia, of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, addressed the legal fight in Hazelton, Pennsylvania, where the town’s mayor made national news with a proposal for an onerous anti-immigrant ordinance.

The rally took place without incident, despite a picket line of 50 anti-immigrant protesters outside.

Related articles:
New Jersey protest slams ‘migra’ fee hike
51 arrested in ‘migra’ raid at UPS warehouses near Seattle

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