Vol. 71/No. 26      July 2, 2007

Lorena Andrade Rodríguez, 34, and Eloisa Núñez Galena, 32, were sentenced together on June 4. Rodríguez was given 25 months in a federal prison and Núñez was slapped with time served and immediate deportation. Both workers have been held in jail since the raid on December 12.

Andrade and Núñez were charged with four counts of identity theft. Each carries a six-month sentence. Andrade received a longer sentence because she was also charged with “aggravated identity theft,” which has a mandatory 24-month sentence.

On June 8, a third worker arrested in the raid at Swift, Norma González Hernández, 29, was found guilty of five counts of identity theft and sentenced to 24 months.

The handcuffed workers were led into court by U.S. Marshals, and dressed in black and white striped prison uniforms. At the June 4 hearing, four U.S Marshals, and three Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) cops were present in the courtroom during the sentencing.

Nearly 1,300 workers at six Swift plants in Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Texas, and Utah were rounded up and thrown in jail last year. More than half of them have been deported.

All three workers were born in Mexico. Andrade’s two children, Andrea 7, and Elizabeth 14, attended the sentencing. Andrade addressed the court, through an interpreter, and explained that her daughters’ father had been deported to Mexico. “My daughters live with relatives for now but I am their only support,” she said. “I have lived and worked for 12 years in the United States and have not committed any crimes. I only worked to provide food and housing. My children need their mother.”

No member of Andrade’s family was allowed to speak to her during the proceedings. Andrade’s attorney, Michael Said, requested that she be allowed to speak with her children before being sent to prison. The request was denied.

Said asked for “compassion from the court” before the sentencing. “There is no legal way to immigrate in the short term unless you have a high level of education and skills or are wealthy,” he said. “Lorena came to this country for no other reason than to provide a better life for her young children.”

Andrade and González were told by the sentencing judges that they should anticipate being deported immediately after serving their terms. All three workers, the judges said, will get a harsher sentence if they return to the United States without government authorization. The court also fined the workers: Andrade, $100; Núñez, $400; and González $500. Andrade and González plan to appeal, Said said.

Renato González, brother of Norma González Hernández, attended the sentencing with three other relatives. He still works at Swift. The government doesn’t want “to take all of us because employers need us here to work,” he told the Militant. “They arrest a few to make us all afraid. What they do is very unjust.”
 
 
Related articles:
Protesters condemn ‘la migra’ raid in Oregon
Day laborers in N.Y. town win hiring hall in Black church
Connecticut rally demands halt to ‘la migra’ raids
 
 
 
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