CLU Statement on New Bedford ICE Raids and Immigration

How is it that a raid by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency in the City of New Bedford, 60 miles away, has shaken so many Boston residents, native-born and immigrant? Media coverage of the March 6^th raid has focused on ICE’s inhumane treatment of detained immigrant workers, and we also condemn that treatment. We are proud of the unionized social workers who stood up on behalf of the workers targeted for deportation. But we want to call attention, further, to concerns about the New Bedford raid that we have not seen addressed in the media, and to the raid’s long-term impact on our local communities and unions. Community Labor United (CLU) is a partnership of seven Boston-area, labor unions and ten community organizations that represent thousands of low and moderate income people from the Greater Boston area. CLU represents Greater Boston residents of all ethnicities, ages and backgrounds, including groups upholding worker wages and rights, as well as groups addressing housing, health, environmental justice, violence prevention and human rights. We have experienced the March 6, 2007 raid on the Michael Bianco Inc. factory as not only an unnecessary assault on a group of exploited immigrant workers and their families but also as a threat to all working people, regardless of immigration status. The criminalization of this segment of the Massachusetts workforce undermines our ability to organize in our workplaces and communities, to work together for decent wages, working and living conditions, and to uphold our civil and human rights. We believe this because:

The workers at the Michael Bianco factory, mostly women from Guatemala and El Salvador, were arrested while trying to provide for their families as any hard-working parent would. They risked their lives coming to the U.S. because they could not earn a living in their home countries, largely due to trade agreements initiated by the United States and wars in which the U.S. intervened. Most native-born Americans have immigrant ancestors who came to the U.S. from Ireland, Italy and elsewhere for similar reasons—war, hunger and unemployment. Some came with papers and many without--but at a time when there were few restrictions on immigration. We ask: Why are these immigrant workers from Central America being criminalized and punished?

Workers in the Michael Bianco factory reported substandard wages and working conditions; being docked pay or suspended for going to the bathroom; health and safety law violations; non-payment of overtime and other abuses. These stories are all too familiar; we know firsthand that immigrant workers in and around Boston are being abused in many industries, from construction and cleaning to restaurants. We ask: In 2007, why are people working under conditions that were unacceptable 100 years ago?

The City of New Bedford and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts provided this company with over $50,000 in property tax breaks and even larger state tax breaks. Through a $138 million Department of Defense contract, the Federal government has used our tax money to fund Michael Bianco’s expansion. We ask: Why have our local, state and federal governments used our public dollars to exploit these workers without any accountability or public outcry?

The U.S. has a long and sad history of racial fear dividing native-born, slave and immigrant workers. Chinese, Irish, Mexican and African-American workers were excluded from many different parts of the workforce. Employers have often used migrant and immigrant workers to break strikes and undercut wages. The New Bedford raid by federal agents, supported by state and local agencies, was the latest in a long history of attempts to criminalize and scapegoat one group of workers, and to force their families into the shadows of society. Divisions over race and immigration have undercut wages and living standards for U.S. working people. We ask: What do working people stand to lose when this part of the workforce is so easily exploited and criminalized?

Finally, we strongly believe that there must be a moratorium on immigration raids while our country works towards an immigration policy that reflects the needs and concerns of all our communities.