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"Illegally held against their will, denied access to telephones, attorneys and even bathrooms"

Members of UNI Commerce affiliate United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) have joined with community groups, civil rights leaders and immigrant rights activists to condemn abuse and misconduct by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Across the country, ICE enforcement teams have used unwarranted physical force to illegally detain workers in misguided attempts at enforcing failed U.S. immigration policies.

The national meeting today (16.08.2007) was held to hear workers' testimony, many of whom were illegally held against their will, denied access to telephones, attorneys and even bathrooms.

Joe Hansen: " Excessive show of force "

- The excessive show of force—the abusive conduct, the disregard for individual rights and the lack of concern for working families—it would make you think this incident occurred in a foreign country or in a distant era, said UFCW International President Joe Hansen in convening the meeting.

- But, unfortunately, the ICE raids happened in America's heartland in our times. It happened to America's workers—to our brothers and sisters. It happened to our fellow Americans, native born and immigrant.

Workers were denied access to telephones, bathrooms and legal counsel. Citizens and legal residents were denied the opportunity to retrieve documents to establish their legal status. Some were handcuffed and held for hours. Others were shipped out on buses. 

" ... families, schools and day care centers could not be contacted "

During the raids, families, schools and day care centers could not be contacted to make arrangements for the children of detained workers. Families were left divided—not knowing where or when they might see a missing family member again.

- Our union is standing up and speaking out about our members’ constitutional rights, said Joe Hansen.

- They were illegally detained in these ICE raids. We have spent decades winning workers' rights, and we will not sit idly by as federal agents deny them their 4th Amendment rights.

The UFCW today sponsored the National Meeting on ICE Misconduct and Violations of 4th Amendment Rights to bring together voices across the country; to collect the stories of workers who have suffered during ICE raids; and to plot a course of action on how best to respond.

" They held me in handcuffs ", worker says

- When I tried to report to the cafeteria during the raid, ICE agents accused me of trying to run away. They held me in handcuffs. I'm a U.S. Citizen, born in Iowa. My parents live in Mississippi. My government treated me like a criminal and I didn’t do anything wrong. I knew our rights were being violated. What they're doing in these raids is illegal, said Mike Graves, who has lived in the United States his entire life, works at the Marshalltown, Iowa, Swift and Company plant, and is a member of  UFCW Local 1149.

More than 12,000 meatpacking workers were swept up in ICE raids on December 12, 2006. Since then, many workers in other industries have been arrested, detained against their will and denied contact with their families in subsequent raids. Thousands of workers affected by these raids are U.S. citizens and legal residents.

- The justification, in the Swift raids, for the mass disruption of work, family and community, the bullying, the intimidation, the fear, and the threats directed at the workers, was a handful of warrants involving less than a fraction of one percent of the workers swept up in the ICE action, said UFCW president Joe Hansen.     

- Workers were held by armed agents, herded together and systematically stripped of their rights," said Gabriela Flora an organizer in the central region of Project Voice of the American Friends Service Committee.

- They were denied access to bathrooms and legal counsel. Citizens and legal residents were denied the opportunity to retrieve documents to establish their legal status. Many workers were unable to look after children and elderly family members under their care, because they were not allowed to make a phone call. The breakdown of our 4th Amendment rights represents a failure of the first order on the part of our government."

Joe Hansen: " Politicians cannot have it both ways "

- Politicians cannot have it both ways. They cannot continue to say our immigration system is broken and needs fixing, then turn around and insist on excessive and illegal enforcement measures that make the problems worse for everyone—workers, business, and communities, said Joe Hansen.

At the conclusion of the national community meeting, the UFCW organized the "National Working Group on ICE Misconduct and Violations of 4th Amendment Rights," designed to help develop a national strategic response to the increased number of ICE raids and enforcement actions. The group will document what happened to union members during the raids, expose abuse and misconduct and present the evidence to Congress. The Working Group intends to show that ICE agents' tactics during raids in December 2006 were in violation of the federal government's own rules. The Group will collect other testimony from workplace sites where other raids occurred, and will demand that higher-up authorities in the federal government be held accountable.

- Work is not a crime. Workers are not criminals. We do not leave our constitutional rights at the plant gate," said Hansen.

- The stories of workers caught up in these raids must be heard. Their experience should serve as the foundation for congressional hearings. Our political leaders must do something to secure 4th Amendment rights in the workplace.