ICE AGENTS STRIKE NORTH CAROLINA IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES

Statement by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union - August 22, 2007

Washington, DC: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are raiding communities today in St. Paul and Lumberton, North Carolina, demonstrating, once again, the abject failure of the U.S. immigration system. Instead of doing the hard work of immigration reform, the federal government is conducting middle-of-the-night raids in North Carolina designed for headlines that fuel discrimination and cast suspicion on anyone who looks different or has a name that's hard to pronounce.

ICE officials arrived in the dead of night at local mobile home parks, targeting areas heavily populated by poor immigrant workers and their families, and arresting people in their homes. Eyewitnesses report that ICE agents forced women to leave their children. Meanwhile, residents are afraid to leave their homes.

Worksite law enforcement and other ICE actions around identity and immigration issues are a symptom of a failed immigration system, and no substitute for comprehensive reform. They
represent a form of political theater that ends in real human tragedy: the devastation of communities, breakup of families, and the defilement of fundamental American values.

Congress has failed to demonstrate the necessary leadership and persistence to fix our broken system. The UFCW will continue to fight for reform that ensures that all working people - immigrant and native-born - are able to improve their lives and realize the American dream.

For more information contact Jim Papian 202-466-1564 or press@ufcw.org.