Vol. 71/No. 12      March 26, 2007

More than 300 armed immigration agents on March 6 raid the Michael Bianco leather plant in New Bedford, Massachusetts. A March 17 rally has been set there to protest the raid.

Hundreds of armed cops stormed the Michael Bianco Inc. plant here in the morning of March 6. By early afternoon, the immigration police had arrested 361 workers, most of them women who were sewing machine operators in the plant. Many of those arrested hail from El Salvador and Guatemala.

Bianco had 500 employees sewing backpacks and vests for the military on a $83 million contract with the Department of Defense.

Witnesses said police guarded exits while other officers grabbed some of the workers, shouting at them to lie on the ground. Several officers drew their handguns. Some employees fled when agents stormed the building. Helicopters hovered overhead to alert authorities of escape routes, said Corinn Williams, executive director of the Community Economic Development Center in New Bedford.

Viviana Luis Hernandes, 25, a sewing machine operator at the raided plant, told the Boston Globe that she sat in the factory for nine hours, handcuffed with plastic ties, while her case was being evaluated. “When this first happened all I thought was about my baby,” she said. Her husband was also arrested. She was eventually released because there was no one else to take care of her one-year-old.

Those arrested were taken the same day to Fort Devens, a former army base in Ayer, Massachusetts. Due to pressure from immigrant rights organizations and some elected officials, at least 60 people were released the following day, mostly women judged to be sole caretakers of their children. State officials reported that two children were hospitalized for dehydration after their mothers, who were nursing them, were arrested and jailed. State social workers who went to Fort Devens reportedly identified four pregnant women or nursing mothers, nine single mothers, and seven minors, who were also returned to New Bedford. The majority of those arrested, however, were quickly flown to other states or placed in various New England jails. ICE officials reported March 10 that 90 of the workers their agents grabbed are being held in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The remaining 207 are in Harlingen and El Paso, Texas.

Factory owner Francesco Insolia and three of his managers were also arrested, but released on bond the same day.

At a press conference the day of the raid, U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan said, “Insolia and others knowingly and intentionally exploited the government by recruiting and hiring illegal aliens without authorization to work.”

In the evening following the raid, hundreds of relatives of those arrested, friends, and supporters gathered at the Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. James Church. Immediate help was organized to care for children whose parents were now in jail, as family members tried to locate their loved ones.

Buenaventura, who asked that his last name not be used, is originally from El Salvador and had three daughters arrested in the raid, one of whom was later released. He described the conditions in the plant. “They are only allowed two minutes to use the bathrooms and threatened with a fine of $20 if they return late to the job,” he said.

Most workers receive the minimum wage, Buenaventura said. “How will the arrest of hard working people change that?” He was responding to a comment by U.S. Attorney Sullivan who tried to give a “pro-worker” spin to the raid.

“They exploited the workforce with low-paying jobs and horrible working conditions,” Sullivan had said, referring to the factory owners.

Other workers made similar points. Efrain, from Puerto Rico, who asked to be identified only with his first name, has worked in the plant for seven months. He came to the church to offer his solidarity with the arrested workers. “Most of the Puerto Ricans and Portuguese are still working in the plant and the conditions are still just as bad,” he said. “Nothing has improved since the raid.”

Donations of food and clothing, including baby formula and diapers, have been flooding into the church, brought by neighbors, workers from nearby factories, members of other churches, and students from area campuses.

Hundreds crowded into the church here on Sunday, March 11 to meet with senators John Kerry and Edward Kennedy and representatives William Delahunt and Barney Frank. Delahunt said a congressional investigation into the handling of the ICE raid will be launched.

“My own church is urging people to make donations, money, baby supplies, and to help the church deliver items to the families,” said Rhoda Purcell, a New Bedford school administrator, who came to the church to join others in solidarity with the arrested workers. “I came to offer any help I can give.”

Workers and others in the area have already contributed more than $80,000 to help the families of those imprisoned.

Workers at Michael Bianco Inc. joined the nationwide strike on May Day last year to demand legalization of undocumented immigrants. About half the workforce didn’t show up for work. The bosses eventually backed down from their initial threat to fire those who did not come in that day.

“We need to protest, not just sit at home and watch the news,” said Monica Florez, 22, a New Bedford resident who came to volunteer at the church here. “We need everybody here. Together we have strength.”

For more information on the March 17 New Bedford rally, call (508) 979-4684 or (508) 996-8113, or go to www.miracoalition.org
 
 
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‘Militant’ well received by Texas meat packers  
 
 
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