Fighting back "is the only way we can end the situation where the government treats us like objects," Bolivar told the meeting. She was one of three members of Latino Union, an organization of day laborers and temporary workers, who was turned over to the INS after being arrested when their car got a flat tire.

Many immigrant workers in attendance had gone through experiences like those of Calero or Bolivar, either directly or through relatives and friends. Partly because of who was there, the event became a forum to discuss how to fight back against the intensifying attacks on immigrants and other working people.

Participants included garment and laundry workers from three workplaces organized by the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE), and two UNITE organizers. A United Electrical Workers organizer attended, and distributed information about the strike at the Azteca tortilla factory. Guadalupe Peña, one of the meat packers who are waging a determined fight to gain back wages from the closed American Meat Packing Corporation plant, also took part, having earlier accompanied Calero to a TV interview.

Held at St. Pius church in Pilsen, one of the largest Mexican communities in Chicago, the meeting was part of the Midwest stop on Calero’s national speaking tour organized by his New York–based defense committee. Calero has also spoken at successful events in the Twin Cities, Minnesota; Des Moines, Iowa; and Omaha, Nebraska (see accompanying articles).

"What happened to me is happening to tens of thousands of other working people," Calero emphasized when he told his story to the Chicago meeting as part of a panel of speakers.

The labor and socialist journalist, who serves as the associate editor of Perspectiva Mundial and on the writing staff of the Militant, was thrown in an INS jail in Houston December 3 on his return from a reporting trip to Mexico and Cuba. After being swamped by protest letters, the city’s INS director gave the order for Calero’s release 10 days later. The INS has set March 25 in Houston for the hearing on their attempt to "remove" him from the country.

At the time of his release, Calero was just putting the finishing touches to his second article based on interviews with his fellow inmates. Both articles were published in the Militant.

"They are portraying me as a criminal, saying this is the reason to deport me," said Calero. "They base this on a conviction while I was in high school when the punishment was no more than a suspended sentence, a $50 fine and the provision that I had to finish high school, which I did."  
 
Successfully applied for green card
The defense committee’s fact sheet explains that the journalist had told the INS of this conviction when he successfully applied for permanent residency in 1990. In 2000 the green card was reaffirmed--again with full INS knowledge of Calero’s record.

The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, passed in l996, strengthened the hand of the government in victimizing immigrant workers, said Calero. Under this law, thousands have been deported, many for minor infractions committed years ago. "This is done in total disregard for human beings, destroying families, destroying the lives of people who have been working here for years with no problems," Calero said.

He stressed the importance of continuing to flood the INS with letters demanding that the deportation attempt be halted. "Without the initial letters and petitions I would still be in jail," he said. "If the staff members on my newspaper had not launched this public campaign and gotten such a response, the INS would have probably chewed me up by now, and I would be back in Nicaragua.

"We intend to continue to fight this out publicly," Calero stressed. "This is something the government doesn’t want. They don’t want their brutalities and injustices to be out in the open. They like to operate in secret. It will take a public movement, expressions of outrage and pressure, to expose what they are doing and to stop them."

Other panelists expressed solidarity with Calero’s fight, and emphasized its connection with broader issues and struggles.

Randy Jasper, a Wisconsin dairy farmer and activist in Family Farm Defenders, stressed the importance of opposing INS policies that undercut the right to travel. "I had the chance to go to Cuba to talk with farmers there. I went to England to demonstrate with those farmers. I learned a lot from those experiences.

"The same big corporations that are destroying farmers in Mexico with their lower prices are also destroying the farmers here," he said. "We have to support each other."

Mary Johnson, a longtime fighter against police brutality and the death penalty, linked the Calero case to the struggles of Blacks and all workers under attack. "I can identify with Róger because I have a son who was charged when he was 17 and they still are holding that against him," Johnson said.

"The rich people are attacking us because they aren’t making as much profit as they used to. They have stripped and robbed all of the foreign countries. That is one reason why all of us are here!"

"All the groups have to support each other," she said. "We have to identify with the Haitians. As the farmer here said, watch each other’s backs. If we stand up for what is right, that will bring us together."

Another panelist, José Landaverde, the director of the Latino Union, talked about the fight of the day laborers and temporary workers against police and INS harassment, including the case of Julieta Bolivar.  
 
‘Keep fighting these injustices’
Cecelia Guajardo was the first to speak in the discussion period. She had driven to the meeting from Calumet City, Illinois, with her daughter and niece. "I want to ask Róger to keep fighting these injustices," she said. "This is so important. It doesn’t matter where you came from. We have to unite!"

The end of the program did not bring the political give and take to a close. As many signed up for the campaign and took away defense committee literature on how to write letters to the INS in Houston, the room filled with informal discussions.

A number of people told the Militant of hearing about the meeting in the media. Socorro Montano came after she heard Calero interviewed on a popular Spanish language radio talk show. She said she had been angered by the INS roundup of workers at Chicago’s O’Hare airport on December 10. Carried out under the pretext of "fighting terrorism," the raid had led to the firing of hundreds and the arrest and deportation of others.

Alma Garcia, the owner of a beauty salon around the corner from St. Pius church, came after she saw Calero interviewed on Univision, one of the city’s two major Spanish TV channels. The fact sheets and petitions she picked up at the meeting are now displayed in her shop.

Articles on the case have also appeared in the Spanish news weeklies Exito and La Raza, and Calero appeared on a talk show hosted by Cliff Kelly on WVON, a radio station oriented to the Black community.

The day after the meeting, Calero was greeted warmly by workers on the Azteca strike picketline. Calero spoke with them about his experience as part of a successful union organizing drive while a worker at Dakota Premium Foods in South St. Paul, Minnesota. The workers said they would send a petition to the INS demanding that the deportation move be stopped.
 
 
Related articles:
Minnesota union hosts fund-raiser for effort to stop deportation of Róger Calero
Nebraska meat packers defend Róger Calero
Omaha daily reports on defense campaign
Calero defense committee announces officers  
 
 
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