Calero, who is the associate editor of Perspectiva Mundial and a staff writer for the Militant, traveled to Omaha as part of a national speaking tour organized by his defense committee in New York. Tour events in the Midwest have successfully built support for his fight against the INS drive to deport him

As the featured speaker at the Omaha event, held at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, Calero described how Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) cops had seized and jailed him on December 3. The arrest occurred as he was returning through Houston from a reporting assignment in Mexico and Cuba. INS agents cited a previous minor conviction as grounds for Calero’s removal, in spite of the fact that he had been granted permanent residency status since the offense.

Although the INS released him 10 days later, after being deluged by protest letters, "they have every intention of deporting me--or, as they put it in their notice of a March 25 hearing in Houston, of seeing to my ‘removal,’" said Calero. "Only an effective public defense campaign that mobilizes solidarity and links up with other struggles can make them pull back from this," he said.

The speakers panel and audience showed the potential for drawing people from diverse backgrounds to the fight. Ed Leahy, the coordinator of the Immigrant Rights Network of Iowa-Nebraska, served as the co-chair. Joining Herrera and Calero on the platform was Father Stanley Luis Kasun, a pastor of the St. Leonard church in Madison, Nebraska.

Lisa Rottach, a meat packer at south Omaha’s Swift and Company plant, opened the meeting. She noted that five co-workers present had helped lead the successful organizing drive that had won union recognition for the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) at the plant in May of last year.

Calero had himself participated in the organizing drive at the Dakota Premium Foods plant in Minnesota. He noted the similar challenge now facing workers at both plants. "Some workers say that things are better with the union; others say things are the same or worse. But the real question facing us is how to use our union structures to effectively fight, mobilize workers to defend themselves, and reach out to broader struggles."  
 
Broad working-class participation
Herrera agreed. "We need to be able to organize ourselves in a way that we can take on these companies," he said. "The only way to do that is with a real organized fight."

The comments were of direct interest to the dozen or more meat packers from five packing houses who participated in the meeting. Five UFCW organizers and two organizers from the Carpenters Local Union 444 also took part.

Members of several community organizations attended and signed the petition in support of Calero, including the Latina Resource Center, Interfaith Immigration Services (IIS), and Omaha Together One Community (OTOC).

Participants contributed $350 to help defray legal and other expenses in the fight and in the speaking tour.

In the discussion that followed the speakers’ presentations, a Swift plant worker noted that he knew Calero’s name from his articles in Perspectiva Mundial. "The INS amounts to a second army of the United States," he said.

In response, Calero said that the INS acts to divide the working class by isolating and victimizing its immigrant component. "I will continue to write articles on these questions," he said, adding that "we have one obligation--to fight for our rights."

One of the kill floor workers at Swift and Co. saw the struggle to defend Calero as a unique opportunity for immigrant workers like herself. "Most immigrants wouldn’t have a shot at defending ourselves from this kind of attack, including myself. But Róger, because he’s a political person who’s a journalist, can reach out for broad support. He has a chance to beat back this attack, which would help all of us."

The previous evening Herrera had hosted a meeting for Calero at his south Omaha home. Seven meat packers welcomed the opportunity to discuss the possibilities of waging a fight against INS victimization, and the stakes involved for all working people.

The January 9 meeting was covered by the Omaha World-Herald (see box at left) and a local television news broadcast. During this three-day stop in Omaha, Calero was interviewed by the Herald, Nuestro Mundo, and other media outlets. He also met with Donna McDonald, president of UFCW Local 27, and the representatives of several other organizations.

Lisa Rottach, a kill floor worker at Swift and Co., contributed to this article.
 
 
Related articles:
Minnesota union hosts fund-raiser for effort to stop deportation of Róger Calero
Chicago: broad support to antideportation fight
Omaha daily reports on defense campaign
Calero defense committee announces officers  
 
 
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