The Militant (logo)  
   Vol. 67/No. 9           March 24, 2003  
 
 
Workers in Chicago join campaign
against deportation of Róger Calero
(front page)
 
BY BETSEY STONE
AND CHESSIE MOLANO
 
CHICAGO--"The attack on immigrants is not just a Latino problem, an Arab, Somali, or Filipino problem--it’s really aimed at all workers," Rafael Espinosa told the 90 people gathered at a fund-raising dinner here on March 1, sponsored by supporters of Róger Calero’s fight against deportation. Espinosa was one of a panel of speakers that included Calero, who is an editor of Perspectiva Mundial and a staff writer for the Militant.

The event at the Casa Juan Diego Youth Center was a highlight of Calero’s February 27–March 1 visit to Chicago--a visit that was part of a national tour to win support for his fight against attempts by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to deport him.

Those attempts date back to December, when Calero was jailed by INS agents on his return from reporting assignments in Cuba and Mexico. The immigration authorities said that a 1988 plea bargain conviction, waived when Calero was granted permanent residency 12 years ago, is grounds for deportation.

Espinosa was one of those at the Chicago event who expressed outrage at this injustice. A staff representative of Local 789 of the United Food and Commercial Workers union in Minnesota, he drove to the event with a carload of workers from Dakota Premium Foods, a meatpacking plant in South St. Paul. Calero had worked there and been part of a struggle for union recognition that culminated in the gaining of a contract in October of last year.

"About two and a half years ago we united and began the fight in the plant." Espinosa said. "Róger played a role in that struggle. About a month ago, we united again to support Róger in his struggle." Espinosa was referring to a large and successful event at Local 789’s hall on January 11 that had built support for Calero’s campaign.

José Oliva, the Director of the Interfaith Workers Rights Center and chairperson of the national Róger Calero Defense Committee, shared chairing duties with Gerardo Sánchez, a meat packer and leader of the defense committee in Chicago.

Jorge Ramírez of Casa Aztlán introduced the first speaker, Elvira Arrellano. An aircraft cleaner, she was one of 46 workers rounded up by INS agents at O’Hare airport on December 10. Ramírez has helped to organize opposition to this police sweep.

"Elvira was not at the airport when the raids took place on December 10," he said. "She was at her home. Police came to her door at 8:30 in the morning, and dragged her out the way Nazis dragged out Jews during World War II."

When the cops came, she said, they demanded to know if she had arms in the house. She was arrested, separated from her child, and detained for eight hours or more.

Arrellano now faces criminal charges of using a fake social security number, and is fighting INS attempts to deport her.  
 
Promise to continue fighting
Julieta Bolívar also spoke. She is an activist in Latino Unión, an organization of temporary workers and day laborers, and is also fighting deportation. She was arrested by state police in Pennsylvania while traveling to a conference of day laborers. "The police handcuffed me in front of my children as if I were a criminal," she said, promising to "continue fighting."

Miguel Ambriz of the Albany Park day laborers on Chicago’s north side urged support for their struggle to create a workers center there.

"This is an example of seeing fighters linking up with other fighters," said Samuel Farley, a Local 789 shop steward at Dakota Premium Foods.

Calero discussed what is behind the government’s stepped-up attacks on immigrants. "Faced with a crisis in their economy, and worldwide depression conditions, employers are on the offensive against all working people," he said. "They want to make us bear the burden of their crisis so they can maintain their profits. This is why we see the brutal conditions in the workplace, the police brutality, and the massacre they are preparing against the people of Iraq."

The labor journalist stressed the importance of the resistance to these attacks, pointing to the examples of the strikes at Tyson Prepared Foods in Jefferson, Wisconsin, and at the Azteca Tortilla factory in Chicago, and the protests of immigrant workers who are being held in the prisons.

"They are not going to intimidate us. We are going to fight," he said to applause.

Many supporters of Calero’s defense campaign pitched in to make the fundraising dinner a success. Workers who are part of the struggle against the American Meatpacking Corporation, which closed down in November 2001, helped on security and mounted a display on their fight to gain back wages owed by the company.

Marta Peńa, who brought food for the potluck dinner, told the Militant that such events "motivate people to have the strength to continue to fight." She is one of thousands of janitors, members of Service Employees International Union Local 1, who have held rallies in downtown Chicago to fight for a decent contract.

"This is an attack on workers and against us all," said Carlos Hernández. "That is why it is important to be a part of these fights."  
 
Calero meets students, workers
During his four days in Chicago Calero took up other opportunities to talk to students and workers.

He went by the strike picket line at the Azteca Tortilla factory to express solidarity with the workers, who have been out for more than five months, and thanked them for the four pages of petitions they had collected protesting the INS actions.

More signatures were collected among the 60 students who heard Calero speak at Prairie State College in Chicago Heights, Illinois.

Supporters of his fight at the campus pasted paper footsteps in the corridor leading up to the meeting room door. They read, "Stop the Deportation," "Freedom of the Press," "Immigrant Rights," and "Labor Union rights."

At the University of Illinois in Chicago, he spoke to a meeting of 20 people sponsored by the Chancellor’s Committee on the Status of Latinos, the Mexican Students of Aztlán, and the Latino Cultural Center. Participants contributed $44 to the campaign.

A total of $1,200 was raised leading up to and during Calero’s visit. Supporters of the defense committee are charting plans to continue collecting signatures, fund-raising, urging people to write protest letters to the INS, and educating about the case.  
 
Hearing in New Jersey
The day after the meeting, Calero’s attorney in New York was informed that the INS would not contest Calero’s motion to move his case to Newark, New Jersey. The hearing had originally been set for Houston on March 25.

"This will encourage supporters of my defense campaign to step up their efforts," Calero told the Militant.

"This decision marks an important gain," wrote John Studer, the coordinator for the Róger Calero Defense Committee, in a letter to supporters. "It means that the hearing will be held in the New York area, where he lives and works, where his attorney is based, and where his defense is centered. It also means that the hearing will be postponed, giving us more time to force public attention on his fight and mount pressure on the INS.
 

*****

Róger Calero Defense Campaign Tour

The Róger Calero Defense Committee is organizing a speaking tour for Calero in cities around the country to broaden the fight to stop his deportation by the INS. Below is the schedule for the next stops in the tour. Requests for additional tour dates can be made to the committee.

NY: Sarah Lawrence College March 12

Boston March 13–14

Washington, D.C. March 15

Charlotte March 16-17

Atl./Birmingham March 18–20

Washington, D.C. March 18-20

Philadelphia March 23-24

For more information or to send a contribution, contact the Róger Calero Defense Committee, c/o PRDF, Box 761, Church St. Station, New York, NY 10007; phone/fax (212) 563-0585.
e-mail: calerodefense@yahoo.com


Support the Róger Calero Defense Committee
  • Send messages to INS district director Hipolito Acosta demanding the exclusion moves against Calero be dropped. Messages can be faxed to (281) 774-5989 or mailed to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 126 Northpoint Drive, Houston, TX 77060. Copies should be sent to the Róger Calero Defense Committee, c/o PRDF, Box 761, Church St. Station, New York, NY 10007; fax (212) 563-0585.
  • Sign and distribute petitions demanding the INS drop the exclusion of Calero. A brochure and petition are available from the defense committee (e-mail: calerodefense@yahoo.com).
  • Funds are needed to meet legal and other expenses. Defense campaign backers in every city need to raise thousands of dollars for these needs. Organize phone calling for donations, seek honoraria for speaking engagements, and take collections at public meetings. The goal is to raise more than $50,000 by March 25, the date of Calero’s deportation hearing. Contributions are tax-deductible.

 
 
Related articles:
Calero’s fight goes to UK, Sweden, Iceland  
 
 
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