FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Feb. 25, 2009

SEATTLE - During a news conference Wednesday, OneAmerica (formerly Hate Free Zone) and community allies strongly condemned Tuesday's raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on the Yamato Engine Specialists in Bellingham, Wash. This military-style raid was reportedly conducted by 75 ICE agents in riot gear, who entered the premises with buckets of handcuffs and ankle chains. Workers were rounded up and interrogated one by one along a perimeter.

Twenty-eight workers were arrested, of which three were women who were later released on humanitarian grounds. The remaining 25 were handcuffed, put on a bus and taken to an undisclosed location without attorneys present. ICE refused to speak with local attorneys who tried to get information on the arrests in order to assist the workers.

The raid, the first such action since President Obama took office, is the latest in a string of inhumane immigration sweeps started by the Bush administration. Raids disrupt local economies, traumatize families and take away mothers and fathers from helpless children.

After the raid, leaders around the country across different sectors placed dozens of phone calls expressing outrage to the White House.

In responding to a question at a House Homeland Security hearing, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano ordered a review of the raid. OneAmerica Executive Director Pramila Jayapal said, "OneAmerica is encouraged by this review. It is the first step in a number of steps needed immediately to fix our enforcement system. We need to not just review one raid but need a moratorium on all raids and we call on President Obama and the 111th Congress to enact Comprehensive Immigration Reform."

At the news conference at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Seattle, community, faith and immigrant rights leaders said the Tuesday raid illustrated the flaws in the enforcement system. Past-president of the Washington Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) Steve Miller said, "In this particular case you have an employer who had been working with ICE since September. This is not an unscrupulous employer who needs to be sanctioned against. This was an individual who was trying to comply with the law. We don't need helicopters. We don't need cowboys dressed up in riot gear outnumbering the immigrants 3-to-1."  

Jayapal also emphasized the high cost on lives and the economy of the current enforcement system. "Attacking workers, taking away the primary breadwinner, destroying a local business and leaving families torn apart is simply un-American, unjust and expensive." In previous raids such as the one in Postville, Iowa ICE spent $5.2 million or about $14,000 per immigrant.

Jayapal said Tuesday's raid does nothing to solve the problems in the U.S. immigration system and punishes those trying to make a better life for their families. This was the first workplace raid under the Obama Administration and is a far cry from President Obama's promise to declare a moratorium on raids. This is not change we can believe in. As the President said last night, 'Living our values doesn't make us weaker. It makes us safer, and it makes us stronger.' We urge President Obama to act on our values."

Rosalinda Guillen, executive director of Bellingham's Community to Community Development, which has been coordinating much of the local response in Bellingham said, "These are hard-working immigrants who are contributing to our local economy and to our communities. We had been hopeful that a change was coming, these actions do not show that change. We need reform not raids."

Jayapal also expressed concerns about the lack of access to attorneys and other due process violations during raids. She noted that in July 2008, OneAmerica and Seattle University Law School Human Rights Clinic published a report, Voices from Detention, which documented abuses of human and constitutional rights occurring in the Northwest Detention Center where victims of this raid may be transferred to.
OneAmerica and immigrant rights partners are working to assist immigrant families and communities impacted by this raid. For families needing assistance connecting to legal and social services, please contact Community to Community Development at 360-756-2330 or OneAmerica at 206-723-2203 x224.

BACKGROUND LINKS

Read Pramila Jayapal's Statement Regarding the Raid

Napolitano orders review of immigration raid

Seattle Times story on immigration raid


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OneAmerica is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing democracy and justice through building power in immigrant communities. www.weareoneamerica.org
 
FOR INTERVIEWS CONTACT:
Naomi Ishisaka, Communications Director, OneAmerica 206-853-3339 naomi@weareoneamerica.org

High resolution photos available. Photos by Naomi Ishisaka / OneAmerica

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