The Militant (logo)  

Vol. 71/No. 23      June 11, 2007

 
Workers in Georgia town
respond to raid by ‘la migra’
(front page)
 
BY RACHELE FRUIT  
CARROLLTON, Georgia, May 29—Workers here are discussing a May 24 raid and roadblocks set up by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Carroll County Sheriff’s Department. This town of 21,000 people is in an industrial center that includes poultry and meat processing, sewing, lumber, and auto parts plants.

At dawn on May 24, ICE agents and Carroll County sheriffs raided the Lawrence Trailer Park here, many workers in the area told the Militant. The cops claimed they were looking for someone involved in selling drugs. Workers at the trailer park reported seeing up to four white vans bearing the federal agents and five sheriff patrol cars.

Workers at BBI, a nearby sewing plant in Bowdon where this reporter works, immediately started receiving phone calls from family members and friends to inform and warn them about the raid.

This reporter visited the trailer park after work that day along with fellow workers to talk to people affected by the raid.

Everyone interviewed asked to be identified by their first names only, or to be cited anonymously, for fear of retaliation by the government or employers.

Adelaida, a young coworker from Chiapas, Mexico, said la migra came pounding on her doors and windows with flashlights shining. The cops came in and asked her if her baby was “from here.” She said yes. The cops left Adelaida and proceeded to take three men from the trailer—her brother, her brother-in-law, and a friend.

In another trailer, Ricardo, a lumber yard worker, said two roommates were arrested, handcuffed, and shackled before being put into one of the police vans.

Day laborers waiting for work on a street corner and people walking in the trailer park were also arrested, workers said.

People spent three days tracking down family members and friends before learning that they were taken to a detention center in Atlanta and that at least some were moved to Alabama to await deportation. They were given a choice between spending four or five months in jail awaiting a court appearance or being deported immediately.

For several days, cops have been active in the area, setting up roadblocks or checkpoints and asking workers passing by for documents.

The local press has not reported these sweeps and arrests.

“People come here out of necessity,” said Senía, a young Wal-Mart worker from Honduras. “If I could have the same job in my country, I wouldn’t come here and leave my family. A lot of American people don’t think of Hispanics sympathetically. They think we are going to take their jobs, but we aren’t taking their jobs. If they helped us, we could make things better together.”

The police have been trying to justify their actions by spreading unsubstantiated rumors. At the BBI sewing plant there is widespread discussion on why the raids happened. An African American worker said she had heard the police were telling people that there were a lot of Mexican boys riding around, looking to kill Black women.

Another U.S.-born worker said she heard that the sheriffs had posted a warning on the internet that Latino gangs were selling poisonous perfume to unsuspecting young women in the parking lot of stores like Wal-Mart. She added she did not know what website it was posted on. A third worker pointed out that no news media has reported such a story so far.

“It’s not possible to do these things to workers like they did,” said Yadira, another BBI worker, referring to the raid and to the conduct of the cops. “These people did absolutely nothing to deserve this. It’s a crime.”

Ellie García contributed to this article.
 
 
Related articles:
‘They can’t deport us all!’
Ohio workers protest immigration sweep
Workers in Bay Area stand up to ‘migra’ raids  
 
 
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