Workers resist raids by ICE in rural Minnesota towns

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.themilitant.com/2008/7244/724403.html

BY TOM FISKE
ST. JAMES, Minnesota—Immigrant workers in Watonwan County, Minnesota, found ways to resist the immigration raids carried out by the U.S. government against them October 21-23. They did this despite the fact that no organization or church opened its doors or came to their aid during the raids.

On October 21, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began its raids against workers in Madelia, Minnesota. In the next two days they spread the dragnet into the neighboring towns of St. James, Butterfield, Lewisville, and Windom. ICE arrested 19 people, all from Latin America.

Word of the arrests spread quickly. “Many workers did not come to work and left the area,” explained a worker from St. James who asked that his name not be used. “Because of the big raid at the Swift plant in Worthington an hour from here, we were a little more prepared,” he said. “We didn’t open our doors so easily.” Some of the stores in the area became centers of communication where immigrant workers could exchange information about the raids and discuss how to protect themselves.

Watonwan County is located 120 miles southwest of Minneapolis and 60 miles from Worthington, Minnesota, where ICE arrested more than 200 workers at the Swift meatpacking plant on Dec. 12, 2006. Many workers in the county are employed by meatpacking or other factories. Meat packers at the PM Beef plant in Windom fought to organize a union in 2007 to defend themselves against low pay and harsh working conditions. That year workers in their majority voted for the United Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW). Workers at the Tony Downs food processing plant in Madelia are organized into the same local of the UFCW.ICE claimed the latest raids were targeting specific individuals, “fugitive aliens” who have evaded deportation or immigration hearings. But working people in the area told story after story of how ICE stopped and questioned other workers and knocked on homes and apartments of neighbors of those “specifically targeted.”

On arriving in St. James, this reporter spoke by phone to Edith Rodríguez, who lives in Butterfield. ICE had seized her mother a few hours earlier. “I was surprised by the brutality of ICE against my family,” she said. “They pushed in the door and treated my mother with indignity.”

On October 24 some 60 people demonstrated in Minneapolis against the raids. One of the protesters traveled two hours from Watonwan County. “Stop the raids! Alto a las redadas!” shouted the demonstrators in English and Spanish. The action was called by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Coalition.

FULL story at link.

[jwirr]

1. I was born and raised in this area. First of all does anyone know if

any action was taken against the owners of the packs? My guess is that it was not. I know both sides of this issue - my white brother was the last white person left in one of those plants - he was the only person who knew how to run every single one of the machines. He was let go rather than promoted because he could not speak spanish. So you have all these spanish speaking workers who have replaced the white workers of the area. That means that there is a lot of racism and anger. But this situation has existed for many years and the immigrants have been allowed to build their lives and raise their families in the area so they are part of the economic structure. People like my brother have moved on to other jobs and lives. The packs have encouraged this because it is economically good for them. They are making money from undocumented workers and two months from now a whole new group will be in there learning the trade.

I would suggest that these raids are politically driven in an election year. "Look at us - we repugs are doing something about these illegal immigrants." Until we are willing to do something about the owners of the businesses that hire them these raids are useless and merely waste taxpayers money.