Moisés Mory, president of Steelworkers Local 13742, with his wife Ruth before being jailed. She helps lead the defense effort.

The jailed trade unionist was arrested by la migra at his home in West New York, New Jersey, in May. He has been held since then without access to a hearing. He’s currently incarcerated at the Monmouth County jail in Freehold, New Jersey. Mory was denied a habeas corpus hearing to present a motion for his release, and now awaits a decision by a federal judge on his case. “They are opposed to giving me a due process hearing,” Mory told the Militant in a February 19 interview. “They don’t want to grant me a hearing because they know I have enough arguments for my release, and to obtain a waiver in my case.”

The immigration police is seeking to deport Mory based on a 1986 misdemeanor conviction. In June of that year, Mory was charged with “possession” of a controlled substance. When he was arrested, Mory was riding with an old acquaintance who the police claim was carrying 3.5 grams of cocaine on him. Despite the acquaintance’s confession that the drugs belonged to him—and that Mory knew nothing about them—Mory was convicted and sentenced to 364 days in jail. During the trial he was advised by his attorney to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge in order to avoid a lengthy and costly court process—even though Mory maintained he was innocent. Mory was also never informed by his lawyer or the judge that the charges could later have consequences with his immigration status.

The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act signed into law in 1996 by President William Clinton expanded the number of crimes for which a person can be deported or deemed “ineligible” for citizenship to include a range of misdemeanors, redefining them as “aggravated felonies.” This law made Mory’s nearly 20-year-old conviction a “deportable” offense.

Mory has lived in this country for more than two decades. He filed an application to become a permanent resident in 1984 when he and his wife, Ruth, applied for amnesty. While his wife became a permanent resident, Mory’s application remained pending due to the 1986 conviction. In 1999, when Ruth became a U.S. citizen, she filed a petition for a “status adjustment” for Moisés, and instead of resolving his situation, the immigration cops used the new legislation to begin deportation proceedings against him.

Mory has been battling the immigration cops for many years. This is the second time the immigration service has tried to deport him. In 1999, after spending a year in jail, he beat back the immigration cops’ first attempt when an immigration judge dropped the deportation proceedings.

“They came to my house looking for my husband, asking me where he works saying they were looking for him to return some papers he had lost,” Ruth told the West New York Reporter. Moisés was arrested on the spot after she told them where he worked. “They lied to me and they arrested him,” she said.

The government did not let up in their effort to throw him out of the country. In December of 2003 the government appealed the judge’s decision to drop the proceedings, and, without Mory even being informed by his attorney, a judge issued an order for him to leave the country within 90 days, or file another appeal. But he was never told that this proceeding took place, he said.  
 
Co-workers respond to appeal
Mory’s co-workers and others who defend his right to live and work in this country have sent letters to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency of the Department of Homeland Security.

In one such letter, officers of Local 13742, and 99 of his co-workers at Foamex International Inc. who signed the letter, refuted the government’s charge that Mory is “inadmissible” to the United States because he is not of “good moral character.” Mory worked for 10 years as a machine operator at the factory, which produces polyurethane foam.

“We the undersigned appeal for the release of our current president, Mr. Moises Mory,” read the letter. “We have only known him as a fine worker respected in the company and a friend to all who needed his help. As a former shop steward he spoke up for his fellow working man when he felt a wrong was committed. This respect enabled him to win the presidency [of the USWA local] by a landslide…. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to show our concern for our fellow member, and hope this process will have a favorable outcome and allow us the return of our co-worker and president, so he may resume his role on our behalf.”

Mory has continued fighting alongside others in the prison for better conditions and for their right to due process.

Many of the inmates, like himself, are being held without bail or a hearing even after providing ample proof that they do not represent a flight risk. Provisions of the 1996 immigration law allow the federal government to imprison immigrant workers with past convictions even for minor offenses indefinitely without bail while the government seeks to deport them. Under pressure of indefinite imprisonment many of them agree to sign an agreement for “voluntary departure” to their country of origin.

“Immigration does this to break us psychologically and emotionally,” Mory said.

He shares a cell with 30 other inmates who come from all over the world, he said. They remain locked-up 24 hours a day with the exception of a few times a week when they are allowed out in the yard. There is only one shower, and the unsanitary conditions inside the cell has cause skin rashes and other problems. “It took four months for them to give me a cream to fight an infection,” he said. He said that every time they go see the doctor or get medicines, the prison authorities subtract money from the inmate’s personal account.

Mory told the Militant how the inmates organize to assist each other in preparing forms and writing letters appealing for support for their cases. In most cases, their main demand is their right to a fair hearing where they can present their case.
 
 
Related articles:
‘La migra’ steps up arrests and deportations
Moisés Mory writes from the Monmouth County Jail in New Jersey  
 
 
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