June 19, 2009

Grand Island Independent
Union describes impact of ICE raids
By Tracy Overstreet

Union officials representing meatpacking workers say civil rights were violated when U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents raided six Swift & Co. packing plants across the country on Dec. 12, 2006.

The raids were conducted in Grand Island as well as Cactus, Texas; Greeley, Colo.; Worthington, Minn.; Marshalltown, Iowa; and Hyrum, Utah.

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) has spent the last two years studying what it believes were violations that occurred under the Bush administration immigration enforcement policy.

On Thursday, it released its violation findings and recommendations on changes it believes should occur.
"During that raid, 12,000 workers -- most of them U.S. citizens and legal residents -- were herded together at gunpoint and denied access to phones, bathrooms, families and legal counsel," UFCW President Joe Hansen said.

The UFCW founded a National Commission on ICE Misconduct and Violations of Fourth Amendment Rights to investigate the problems. It held five hearings across the country to take testimony and gather evidence of ICE violations of constitutionally guaranteed rights.

"What the commission uncovered ? was that the Bush administration repeatedly trampled on innocent workers' constitutional rights," Hansen said. "These were not isolated incidents but a systemic problem that occurred in nearly every region of the country."

"All they did was go to work, and ICE showed up with weapons drawn and no warrants," said commission member Bill Ong Hing, a professor of law and Asian American studies at the University of California, Davis.

Pasqual Talamantes of Grand Island was one of the detainees who testified before the commission.

"I was held for six hours. No water, no food," Talamantes said. "I asked (the agent) to please hurry the process. My children were in school, and it was getting very late.

"He told me they were federal agents, that they had all the authority to hold me, that they were going to make sure they investigated me thoroughly," he testified.

Another agent became involved, and within seconds, Talamantes was cleared.

"I was astounded," he said. "I had been held for so long, and it only took this ? agent a matter of seconds to clear and verify that I was, in fact, an American citizen."

Fidencio Sandoval, also an American citizen working at the Grand Island Swift plant, said he was detained and treated differently because he "appeared to be Latino," the 62-page report states.

"When they said all the U.S. citizens come over to this place, I went up there and I stood right by my boss," Sandoval said. "My boss showed his driver's license, and then he was free to go.

"I showed my driver's license and my voting registration card, and that was not enough," he said. "He (the ICE agent) said, 'No, you need either your passport or citizenship certificate.'"

As Sandoval took out his cell phone to call his wife, who also worked at the plant, the agent flipped it shut. Sandoval stated he believed he had a right to make a phone call.

"You will make your phone call when we say you can make your phone call," the agent replied.

The agent then threatened to handcuff Sandoval when his phone rang.

He was finally released after calling his sister and instructing her to "break the window from my kitchen and go straight to my closet and get my citizen certificate," Sandoval testified.

But those who couldn't produce legal documents in Grand Island were transported 300 miles to a military base in Johnston, Iowa, known as Camp Dodge. Hundreds of Swift workers from Nebraska and Iowa were "being held under guard" there and had no immediate access to legal representation, the UFCW report details.

The raid had devastating effects on workers, families and communities, the report states. It caused emotional and mental health problems, disrupted schools and stirred up race relation issues.

Children were separated from parents.

ICE agents reportedly asked detainees if they had children but never informed them that one parent could remain with the children. Many detainees were afraid to tell of having children for fear that the children would be taken and placed in foster care, the report found.

The most troubling aspect, the commission stated, is that the violations were carried out by the U.S. government in violation of its own Fourth and Fifth amendments to the Constitution, which grant protections against unreasonable search and seizure and guarantee due process, respectively.

"No government agency should be above the law," Hansen said.

The report recommends more targeted enforcement at employers who abuse and exploit the immigrant work force, for protection of civil rights of all workers and for regular oversight of ICE activities.

Hansen said, under the Obama administration, there is an opportunity to begin a new chapter on worker rights and core values as a nation.

But there's also need for comprehensive immigration reform. The report suggests reform through things such as earned legalization programs, family unification, secure borders, employer sanctions, due-process protections and immigrant integration.