LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Hundreds of immigrant workers in the biggest factories and other job sites in the Louisville area have received government letters saying their humanitarian parole visas are being terminated and they will face removal if they don’t “self-deport” by April 24.
These threats are a result of the Donald Trump administration’s plan to severely curb humanitarian parole for immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, governments Washington opposes or considers dangerous. Some 532,000 workers from the four countries have been allowed to live and work in the U.S. under this program.
This area is home to one of the largest number of Cuban immigrants in the country, estimated to be as high as 30,000. Many of them work at major area employers like General Electric Appliances/Haier, Amazon and UPS.
“The government policies are cruel and confusing,” Rick Hernandez told the Militant. Hernandez is the president of the Kentucky chapter of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement and an organizer for Bricklayers Local 4. “Workers come here to make a better life. They are here legally but the Trump administration has changed the rules.”
Hernandez and LCLAA are working with unions in the area to defend workers facing deportation. Ashley Snider, the political organizer of the International Union of Electrical Workers-Communications Workers of America, which organizes the Haier plant, told the Militant her union is working with the United Auto Workers and United Food and Commercial Workers to organize to help protect immigrants in their ranks. The union has learned that 197 of the workers facing deportation are members of IUE-CWA Local 83761 at General Electric/Haier in Appliance Park. Others are members of the UAW at Magna Seating in nearby Shepherdsville and of the UFCW-organized plants in the area.
“The union doesn’t ask about anyone’s immigration status,” Snider said. “We want people to know the union hall should be the first place people go to for help and support.”
Volunteers in the three unions are calling workers in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole to offer help and invite them to information sessions at the UAW union hall. At least 40 of the workers at the General Electric/Haier plant are Haitian.
Erwin Ramirez, 24, originally from Guatemala, has worked at GE/Haier for four years. He is one of the volunteers calling co-workers for the union. “The company is saying if they don’t have documentation they will lose their jobs on April 24,” Ramirez told the Militant. “I think it’s terrible that they are trying to deport workers who came here legally and just want to work.”
“We were outraged” by the deportation order, IUE-CWA Local 83761 President Dino Driskell said in an April 4 press release. “We call on the administration to restore their status immediately.”
“What is happening to our members at Appliance Park is unfolding at workplaces and in communities all across the country,” national IUE-CWA President Carl Kennebrew said in the same statement. “We all must speak out against these cruel attacks on our communities.”
The Greater Louisville Central Labor Council and the Kentucky State AFL-CIO are speaking out and helping spread the word on the information and training sessions at the UAW hall.
“The AFL-CIO stands in solidarity” with the workers, Kentucky State AFL-CIO President Dustin Reinstedler told the press. “These individuals are our co-workers, neighbors and community members who have contributed to our workplaces and local economies.
“The abrupt nature of these notices has left families in distress, facing impossible choices with little time to prepare. These are human beings, not just case numbers, and they deserve dignity and transparency. We urge our community to come together in support of those affected.”
The Labor Council for Latin American Advancement said immigrant workers’ contribution to the area “is a strength, not a weakness, enriching both the work environment and the community as a whole. Immigrant workers play a vital role in our economy, and they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, just like all workers.”
Hernandez told the Militant that LCLAA is supporting not only union members, but any immigrant workers in the community. He said, “We will continue to stand with the immigrant community, advocating for their rights, well-being and future.”
Betsy Farley contributed to this article.