Police had framed up her brother, Piñeda said. "They forced him to sign something saying he was guilty. He was in jail two years before they deported him.

"The same thing happened in the struggle I’m in," she said. Piñeda is one of the former Forever 21 employees who are fighting to win back wages owed by the clothing company. "The rumors have gone around that they’ll deport fighters who don’t have papers.

"That’s why it’s so good this young man is doing this," Piñeda said. "Many people don’t know where to go or what to do. And it’s happening all over."

Other panelists at the meeting and participants who spoke in the discussion stressed the same theme: that many people know Calero’s situation from personal experience and will respond to the fight that he is waging, alongside others.

On March 25 the socialist journalist, who is the associate editor of Perspectiva Mundial and a Militant staff writer, will face an INS hearing in Houston aimed at his "removal" from the United States.

Calero was originally seized by INS agents in Houston on December 3 as he returned from a reporting trip to Cuba and Mexico--one of several he has carried out in recent years. In jailing him, INS officials cited his 1989 conviction as a high school student in Los Angeles on a charge of selling an ounce of marijuana to an undercover cop. The conviction had previously been waived twice when Calero applied for permanent residency, granted first in 1990 and renewed in 2000.

As the Militant and PM spread the word of his jailing, letters demanding Calero’s release began arriving at the INS office. On December 13 he was paroled, and supporters formed a defense committee shortly afterwards. Working out of its New York office the committee promptly launched the speaking tour, in the course of which the socialist journalist has spoken to hundreds of workers and others in Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and now the West Coast.

Angela Sanbrano, the executive director of the Central American Resource Center where the event was held, co-chaired. "Stopping Róger’s deportation is a way to contribute to stopping the INS policy," she said in introducing the meeting. "This policy is not new. We’re just seeing an escalation of what was happening already."  
 
An injury to one an injury to all
"As we defend freedom of the press and other important rights," Sanbrano said, "it’s important that we send a message that an injury to one is an injury to all. All of us and our movements must come together to defend Róger."

Several Salvadoran and Nicaraguan-born workers came to the meeting after reading about Calero’s fight and the meeting that same day in La Opinión, the Spanish-language daily published in Los Angeles (see below.)

Among the young people present were students from California State University in Los Angeles. Some had met Calero in Guadalajara, Mexico, during his November–December reporting trip. They had gone there for the congress of OCLAE--the Continental Organization of Latin American and Caribbean Students.

The meeting included members of Róger Calero’s family, friends he’d grown up with during his 10 years living in Los Angeles, and Carlos Ugalde, one of his teachers when he was studying at Glendale Community College. Ugalde joined others on the speakers platform.

Another panelist was Norma Martínez, the Argentine-born mother of Gonzalo Martínez, who was shot and killed by Downey police in February 2002. Martínez and her family have organized protests over the last year against the murder of her son and plan another on February 15. "We have a saying," Martínez said: "La migra, la policía, la misma porquería, ("the INS, the police, the same filth"). I support Róger and anything he needs we’re here for him," she added.

Hamid Khan, a leader of the South Asian Network, and immigration attorney Pasquale Lombardo were also panelists. "I’m here to support Róger because he is speaking out," Lombardo said.

In his extended remarks, Calero began by thanking the resource center and "all of you who have embraced this fight," said Calero. "Without your letters of protest to the INS I would not be here tonight."

"What is happening to me is happening to thousands of others who live and work in this country," he said. "Every victory will reinforce the fights of others like me." Calero pointed to the struggle of Palestinian activist Farouk Abdel-Muhti, who has been held in INS jails in New Jersey for nine months.

Alongside a number of others who have been imprisoned without charges and threatened with deportation, Abdel-Muhti has begun a hunger strike to demand his release. (See story page 9.)

"There are no guarantees but one," Calero said, "and that is that we will put up a fight to show them that we will join together with all those who agree to fight to protect workers’ rights. That kind of fight will encourage others to stand up, too. And a victory will show that we can win."

"Everything you’re talking about, I’ve lived it," a 53-year old man--like Calero, a native of Nicaragua--said in the discussion period. He told of being imprisoned in California for 100 days in 1986. As he was being transferred to Texas, where he was held behind bars for another one-and-a-half years, he said, "I remember thinking that if the plane went down, at least I would take the INS agent with me.

"They treated all of us like dogs," he said, "especially the Black prisoners." He was released from prison as part of a government amnesty. "I am here to say to my compatriot, Róger, that I understand," he said. "If we committed a crime and paid for it, we shouldn’t have to pay twice."

A collection at the meeting raised $900. With the $700 in donations by individuals in Los Angeles, this makes $1,600 raised there toward the $50,000 fund drive launched by the defense committee.

The report in La Opinión was a high point of the considerable media interest that Calero’s visit to Los Angeles generated. One woman called him after reading the interview to tell him that her son was being held in the same Houston jail in which Calero had been held for ten days.

Calero was interviewed by Spanish-language AM radio station KNX. Several other stations, the CentroAmerica Weekly newspaper, and EFE, the news agency from Spain, all covered the January 15 meeting.