"We are working here, and we have the right to be here!" said Eduardo Palomo, one of the featured speakers of the evening. Palomo is an organizer for a day laborers program in the city. He described these workers’ fight for protection on the job, and against cop harassment and threats of deportation by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). "We support Róger in his fight," he said.

That fight began December 3 when Calero, who is the associate editor of Perspectiva Mundial magazine and a Militant staff writer, was arrested by the INS upon his return to the United States from a reporting assignment in Cuba and Mexico. A conviction for selling an ounce of marijuana to an undercover cop while in high school more than a decade before was enough to flag his entry at the Houston airport, and is the basis for the INS attempt to remove him from U.S. soil.

"As a Filipino immigrant naturalized in this country, I still have fear because of what I look like and what I do," said panelist Daz Lamparas, an organizer for the Service Employees International Union. Lamparas organizes airport screeners in the Bay Area. "Over 1,500 workers were removed from the San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose airports last year," he said. Many were from the Philippines. "This is connected to the increased U.S. military presence there to fight ‘terrorism,’" he said.

Airport screeners, many of whom were immigrants working for private companies, were replaced en masse by a new workforce under the direction of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

Lamparas reminded the meeting of Operation Tarmac, last summer’s joint FBI/INS sweep of airports in search of "security breaches." Hundreds of workers were arrested or fired on allegations that they did not have the "proper" documents.

"The head of the TSA has said that the new screeners do not have the right to join a union--but forming a union on the worksite is necessary to defend your rights," Lamparas said.

Vu Duc Vuong brought greetings from the American Friends Service Committee. "People have the right to move, live, and work where they choose," he said. "We support Róger for fighting to defend all workers--we need to show this government that it cannot just throw its weight around."

"The NLG endorses the case proudly," said Riva Enteen of the National Lawyers Guild. "We have to defend freedom of association and freedom of speech, and the rights of all workers."

"We have to convince the state that they picked on the wrong guy this time, because he is a political activist who sets an example for others," Enteen said.

José Sandoval of the Voluntarios de la Comunidad spoke before Calero. Having helped organize demonstrations in California demanding the right of those without Social Security numbers to gain a drivers’ license, he is now involved in organizing protests to support immigrant workers who have been fired after their companies received "no match" letters from the government. The letters list workers whose Social Security numbers do not match government files.

"We work to produce the wealth of this country," Sandoval said. "With our hands we create wealth; therefore we should have rights. We ask for your solidarity in this fight." A march is planned for January 22 in San Jose to protest the firings.

"We will ask others to mobilize to support Róger, and we want to assure you that he will stay here in the U.S. with us," Sandoval said in conclusion.  
 
Fight can reinforce others
"This specific fight can set a tone and reinforce other fights," said Calero. "It can show that we can organize ourselves to win."

Chipping away at the rights of immigrant workers is part of "eroding constitutional protection for all," he said.

Similar attacks are happening to thousands of workers, both "undocumented" and "legal," Calero added. "The U.S. rulers seek to impose onerous conditions on the most vulnerable, but they never allow for their resistance." The outcry over the detention of thousands of men from the Middle East during the current "registration" process is evidence of that, he said, noting that the events remind many "of the incarceration of Japanese-Americans in World War II--two-thirds of whom were U.S. citizens."

Calero ended his presentation by explaining the importance of the fight for immigrant rights to the U.S. labor movement. "The TSA has said that collective bargaining is ‘not compatible’ with the fight against ‘terrorism,’" Calero said. "The fight against these assaults on immigrants is a life-or-death question for the unions. All workers’ rights must be defended, and we must fight to end all deportations."

The meeting heard messages of solidarity from the Chinese Progressive Association and Ron Lind, secretary-treasurer of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 428 in San Jose.

During the discussion several young people spoke of their support for Calero’s fight, and a fund collection raised $1,600 towards the defense committee’s national goal of $50,000.

Calero ended the program by urging support for the five Cubans who have been framed up and jailed by the U.S. government on conspiracy charges. He also called for solidarity with the prisoners at the Passaic County jail in New Jersey who launched a protest hunger strike on January 14 (see article on page 9).

While in the Bay Area Calero was interviewed by Spanish television stations Univisión Channel 14 and Telemundo Channel 48, La Oferta newsweekly, and Nuevo Mundo newspaper in San Jose. He also spoke to two workers at the home of a member of UFCW Local 120.

Bill Kalman is a member of UFCW Local 120 in San Lorenzo, California.

"You guys are doing some real education here today," said Lynette Gomes to volunteers staffing the table. After a discussion of the place of the fight against harassment of immigrant workers in building the unions, she said that she had "blamed the wrong people" for being unable to find work.

Many were drawn by the bilingual signs on the table demanding "Stop the deportation of Roger Calero!" along with a display that featured background on the case. Calero and his supporters distributed several hundred brochures and fact sheets in English and Spanish to protesters, while more than 200 signed a petition calling on the INS to stop its "removal" proceedings against him.. A worker from Yemen took several brochures on Calero’s case to distribute at his mosque. A number of people had already heard of the case, either from reading about it on various web sites or from the media coverage.
 
 
Related articles:
West Coast meetings build support for fight against deportation of Róger Calero
Build on Calero tour success
Students exchange views on issues in Calero fight
Spanish-language daily interviews Calero
More unionists back defense campaign
Solidarity with hunger strikers  
 
 
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