U.S. gov’t, bosses use racial profiling

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.pww.org/index.php/article/articleview/11868/1/394

U.S. gov’t, bosses use racial profiling

Author: Joelle Fishman

People's Weekly World Newspaper, 10/11/07 13:06

Fernando Rodriquez, director of Local 7 of the United Food and Commercial Workers union in Colorado, took time out from the Congreso Latino meeting in Los Angeles last week (see story, page 3) to tell the World about immigration raids the government conducted at Swift & Co. meatpacking plants in December.

During those raids, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents rounded up 12,000 workers at plants throughout the Midwest and West, including one in Greeley, Colo.

The UFCW has filed suit against both the ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, alleging that the workers had their constitutional rights violated as a result of false imprisonment and abuse suffered at the hands of the government.

Following are excerpts from Fernando Rodriquez’s comments.

“ICE arrived in Greeley around 6 a.m. on Dec. 12. They surrounded the packing house, fully armed, and took over the plant. The guards were stationed 5 feet apart with guns and riot gear.

“I was in Denver at a staff meeting. As soon as we heard, I rushed back and arrived at the packinghouse in Greeley at 11 a.m. I found all the Mexican and Latino workers in the cafeteria. There were 1,200 workers, wall to wall. They were not being permitted to go to the restroom, use the phone, eat or retrieve their lunch pails.

“The ICE agents said they only wanted to check their status. They came in with 29 warrants for ID theft. Instead of calling out the 29, they herded all the Latino workers down one stairwell into the cafeteria. Then they separated the citizens and the noncitizens. It was all racial profiling.

FULL story at link.