PRESS STATEMENT: Bush’s Last Throes: Tear Apart Immigrant Families

PRESS STATEMENT

Bush’s Last Throes: Tear Apart Immigrant Families

U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) raided another meat-packing plant yesterday, this time, Agriprocessors in Postville, Iowa. The town has a population of 2,273 and the plant employed 968 workers. At least 300 workers so far have been detained. The following is a statement by Eva Millona, Acting Executive Director of the Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA):

"This week, almost every American is anxious about the recession, worried about the escalating price of food and gas, and concerned for the families devastated by the tornadoes that tore across the Planes and the South, destroying towns and killing dozens. Meanwhile, the Bush Administration demonstrates its misplaced priorities in mounting a major raid, using helicopters, vehicles, and scores of armed agents to arrest hard-working immigrant employees of a meat-packing plant."

"Is it really in the country’s best interest to be spending federal resources to tear apart families, to traumatize young children, to devastate small towns, and to ruin local economies, at a time when the country has other pressing challenges and concerns? Shouldn’t we instead be protecting all working families in America from exploitation, guaranteeing the fair and just treatment of every worker, especially the most vulnerable? Immigration enforcement should not exacerbate the exploitation of workers, nor should it interfere with labor laws that are vital to protect all working families in America."

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MIRA works to advocate for the rights and opportunities of immigrants and refugees. In partnership with its members, MIRA advances this mission through education, training, leadership development, organizing, policy analysis and advocacy.