On August 8, local authorities and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 26 workers at a packing factory in Whitewater. Police asked the district attorney to charge the owner with party to conspiracy to commit misappropriation of identification. Chicago-based ICE officers and Walworth County deputies assisted Whitewater police in executing a search warrant at the business. (ICE is the new name for Immigration and Naturalization Services.)
The workers, including 13 women, were taken to the Dodge County Jail, where they were kept pending deportation proceedings. The proceedings could take as little as a few days or up to several weeks.
Many family members of detainees agree that some of the local police are abusing their authority by harassing immigrants with traffic stops simply to inquire about their documents. The families are afraid that this investigation is reinforcing racism and persecution of Latinos, a feeling that is constantly present, even if not representative of the beliefs of everyone in the general community.
The biggest problem for the families is securing bail money – $5,000 to $10,000 each – to release their relatives from the maximum security detention center.
Another problem is the lack of affordable legal assistance. Some of the detainees cannot reach their families because they are not allowed to call cell phones. There is no infrastructure to provide needed resources to the affected families, such as transportation, Spanish interpreters, etc.
Madison Area Prepares
After meeting with allies in the immigrant rights movement, the South Central Federation of Labor agreed to initiate a community-wide rapid response network should an INS/ICE raid like that in Whitewater occur again.
In 2002, SCFL initiated a resolution for equal rights and nondiscrimination passed by Madison's Common Council and the Dane County Board. The resolution was intended, in part, to avoid situations like the one in Whitewater where overzealous policing (if not outright racism) likely contributed to the problem.
In addition, SCFL will be working with immigrant rights proponents to address anticipated rule changes regarding Social Security No Match problems. These changes are expected to cause enormous disruptions for immigrants in the workplace.