Vol. 72/No. 36      September 15, 2008

Workers organized the protest with help from the Mississippi Immigrants’ Rights Alliance, which is aiding with legal defense for the workers and assistance for their families. The group says the protests will continue until workers get their checks.

The company released some checks the first day. However, when workers returned August 29 signs were posted that the company would not release any more checks, regardless of identification. Several pickets reported that some U.S.-born workers coming out of the plant embraced them and expressed concern about what had happened.

The mass arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), make this the largest single worksite raid to date.

Most of those arrested are being held at the federal detention center in Jena, Louisiana. About 100 workers were released to care for small children or other family members. They must wear GPS ankle bracelets and cannot return to work or leave the state.

Eight workers were charged with identify theft and appeared August 27 in U.S. District Court in nearby Hattiesburg. They are being denied bond and face up to two years’ imprisonment and/or a $250,000 fine if convicted. The others arrested will start appearing in immigration court in Gulfport, Mississippi, on September 22.

“At 7 a.m., hundreds of armed ICE agents entered the plant. They had dogs. There were helicopters overhead. Everybody started running,” one young worker from Mexico told Militant reporters who visited a trailer park August 30. Displaying his ankle bracelet, he asked that his name not be used.

“They pushed everyone into a corner and separated the men and women. Then they divided us into ‘legals’ and ‘illegals,’ gave us different colored bracelets. The ‘legals’ were let out of the plant. After questioning us, most of the ‘illegals’ were pushed out of the plant onto waiting buses.” They were taken to the Jena detention center.

“Many [U.S.-born] workers in the plant laughed and applauded” when the ICE agents came in, he added. Other arrested workers also reported this.

This was not the universal reaction among U.S.-born workers in the area, however. A Black woman who has worked for many years at Peco Foods in Bay Springs said she opposed the deportation of immigrant workers. “Some of them are my friends,” she said. “I don’t think of them as Hispanics. They are my friends and I don’t want to see them sent back.”

The Howard Industries plants employ 4,300 workers, on three shifts, making transformers and other electrical equipment. Workers reported that it is hot, heavy, and dangerous work, with many on-the-job injuries. They described how the bosses promoted divisions between the U.S.-born workers, especially those who are Black, and immigrants, most of whom are from Mexico, Panama, Guatemala, and elsewhere in Latin America.

“When I asked why I couldn’t have a bottle of water on the line, like the other workers, the foreman told me ‘because you’re illegal,’” said Mayra Santiago Peña, a 28-year-old worker from Mexico.

The plant is organized by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

The impact of the raid is being felt throughout this rural part of southeastern Mississippi. Many immigrants have left the area. Militant reporters saw empty trailers and houses, and workers loading their pickups with their possessions. An older worker from Mexico employed at Southern Hens in nearby Mosell—one of the many chicken-processing plants in the area—said only five of his crew of 15 chicken catchers has been at work the past few days.

“Howard Industries is now hiring” proclaims a huge sign on one of the main roads in Laurel.
 
 
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