Rally held outside ICE detention center in WA for 2 union members arrested
Unions demand release of members in ICE custody
Hundreds packed in front of the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma on Thursday, protesting the detainment of a farmworker activist and UW lab technician.
TACOMA, Wash. - Communities rallied outside the Northwest Detention Center on Thursday for the release of two union members arrested by immigration agents this month.
Farmworker, Alfredo "Lelo" Juarez, was the most recent arrest, which happened on Tuesday in Sedro-Wooley.
Grassroots organization Community to Community (C2C) used the power of social media to raise awareness and support for Juarez. The 25-year-old is a farmworker leader for C2C, as well as an organizer and member of Familias Unidas por la Justicia.
"Lelo is a labor organizer, a dedicated advocate for farmworkers and a beloved member of our community," said Tony Mellilo, President of the Northwest Washington Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO. "We demand he be released and allowed to return to his home here in NW Washington."
ICE arrests farmworker activist in Washington
Communities rallied outside the Northwest Detention Center on Thursday for the release of two union members arrested by immigration agents this month.
The backstory:
According to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Juarez, who is a citizen of Mexico, was ordered to be "removed to his home country by an immigration judge on March 27, 2018." ICE said it conducted a joint federal law enforcement arrest in Sedro-Woolley on March 25.
His supporters said on March 25, Juarez was taking his partner to work when ICE agents stopped his car and broke his window to arrest him.
Though ICE did not specify why Juarez was being detained, ICE spokesperson David Yost said Juarez refused to comply with commands to exit his car.
Yost further wrote in a statement, "ICE does not indiscriminately conduct enforcement actions on random people. ICE conducts targeted enforcement actions that are based on intelligence-driven leads focused on aliens identified for arrest and removal from the United States. U.S. immigration laws allow aliens to pursue relief from removal. However, once they have exhausted all due process and appeals, the aliens remain subject to a final order of removal from an immigration judge and ICE must carry out that order."
The National Farm Worker Ministry said Juarez came to the United States as a child and has been an activist for farmworker rights in Washington since he was 12.
"We are quite distressed by his arrest and detention. He has lived and worked in this country for many years and is only seeking to make life better for farm workers and immigrants," said Julie Taylor, Executive Director of National Farm Worker Ministry.
In June 2015, at 15 years old, Juarez was arrested in Bellingham for driving the wrong way down a one-way street, telling officers he was 18 and without a license. Juarez later told FOX 13 Seattle, "I thought I was going to get away with it, but that was a bad mistake that I made."
During the 2015 incident, officers weren’t able to identify Juarez, so they called Border Patrol, who then sent the teen to the Northwest Detention Center. His family sued the City of Bellingham claiming racial profiling and agreed to a settlement.
Now, Juarez and his family are up against a new fight, as ICE said he will "remain in custody pending removal proceedings."
Featured
UW lab technician detained at ICE Processing Center in Tacoma
Lewelyn Dixon's family says she was returning from a trip to the Philippines when she was taken aside and later detained at the ICE Processing Center in Tacoma.
Big picture view:
The family of Lewelyn Dixon is in a similar situation.
"She's been here over 50-plus years. You would think that being a permanent resident is protection," said Lani Madriaga, Dixon’s niece.
Dixon, a SEIU Local 925 member and lab technician at the University of Washington, was arrested and transferred to an ICE detention center in early March. Despite holding a green card, in 2001 Dixon was convicted of embezzlement. Madriaga said immigration attorneys told the family that was possibly the reason for her detainment.
"It's been so long that it's happened and that was a mistake," said Madriaga.
Labor leaders, rank and file union members, and community members spoke during the rally outside the Northwest Detention Center.
"Since its founding, the labor movement has been clear: a threat to one of us is a threat to all of us," said April Sims and Cherika Carter, executive officers of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO. "We will not stand by while the federal government’s cruel and chaotic attacks on immigrant workers escalate. The rights of all working people – to organize on the job, to exercise our constitutional rights of due process and protection from unlawful search and seizure – are under threat."
The Source: Information in this story comes from original reporting by FOX 13 Seattle reporter Franque Thompson.
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