Labor union takes issue with Bianco raid methods

BOSTON — The Michael Bianco Inc. raid and its impact on illegal workers and their families was the focus of a public hearing sponsored by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Monday in Boston.

The union has formed a national commission of academics, politicians, and labor and immigrant activists to investigate alleged misconduct and constitutional violations by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents during recent immigration raids in New Bedford and other cities around the country.

"We have a broken immigration system but that is no excuse for ICE to break the law and violate our constitutional rights," said Joseph T. Hansen, union president and chairman of the National Commission on ICE Misconduct and Violations of 4th Amendment Rights.

Workers, lawyers and community activists involved in the Bianco raid and its aftermath told stories of shackled workers who were separated from their families, teased and taunted by immigration officials and in some cases, forced to sign voluntary deportation waivers.

"The government instilled terror in 500 workers," said the Rev. Marc Fallon of Catholic Social Services. "Most of these people live in neighborhoods that are saturated by heroin, and still the government chooses to target these workers."

Bianco worker Juana Garcia was among the 200 workers flown to detention centers in Texas. She testified that she was separated from her 2-year-old son for nine days despite repeatedly telling immigration agents that she needed to be reunited with the child, who suffers from severe asthma.

ICE spokesman Tim Counts told The Standard-Times that the agency "categorically denies that any misconduct occurred" during immigration raids.

Mr. Counts said the agency has been using the same enforcement methods for decades. Those methods "have been repeatedly challenged in court and upheld. It is our right to enforce the law," he said.

Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., and Lt. Gov. Tim Murray were among those who testified before the commission. Sen. Kerry discussed Congress' failure to enact comprehensive immigration reform and the resulting impact on immigration enforcement policy.

"It took the Bianco raid in New Bedford, and the chaos that followed "¦ to finally bring to light how "¦ out-of-order that policy has become," he said.

The government must strike a balance between protecting people's constitutional rights and enforcing "the law with respect to illegal entry," the senator said.

The 4th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guards against unreasonable search and seizures.

Elected officials and immigrant activists from Chelsea, Springfield and New Haven, Conn., offered testimony on the economic and social impacts of raids in those communities.

The commission has scheduled a series of regional hearings through June. It plans to publish a report of its findings and a list of recommendations for improving immigration enforcement activities.

Mr. Counts, the ICE spokesman, criticized the commission for launching an investigation with the "predetermined" findings that ICE showed misconduct and violated the 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. He also noted that the commission was "not appointed by an objective government entity."

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union created the commission in response to immigration raids at five Swift meatpacking plants carried out on Dec. 12, 2006. The union represents workers at those plants, which are located in Worthington, Minn., Greeley, Colo., Cactus, Texas, Marshalltown, Iowa, and Grand Island, Neb.

The union filed a lawsuit on Sept. 12 against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and ICE "to protect the 4th amendment rights of all Americans and enjoin the government from illegally arresting and detaining workers, including U.S. citizens and legal residents, while at their workplace," according to a UFCW press release.