10/25 (Saturday) BBQ Fundraiser for the El Balazo Workers!

We are having another BBQ fundraiser for the El Balazo Workers! So come out, have fun and help us raise money for the workers!

Here are the details:

Saturday, October 25th, 2008

1-5pm

St. Martha & St. Mary Lutheran church

1050 S. Van Ness

$10-100 Sliding Scale Donation

For more information call
(415)-672-6838.
San Francisco, CA 94110

10/18 (Saturday) - Next Balazo Workers Defense Committee

October 18th (Saturday) 11 AM: Balazo Workers Defense Committee meeting. 3261 23rd St. San Francisco. Near 24th and Mission BART Station.

Come out and help organize to defend the El Balazo taqueria workers!!

"I Support The El Balazo Workers" T Shirts!!

Available at

the Mission Presbyterian Church

3261 23rd St

San Francisco, CA 94110

Call David 415.672.6838



$25 each



All the money will be to help our Balazo Families



Manos Unidas Community Center

David Uh, President Board

3261 23rd Street, San Francisco, CA 94110

(415) 647-8146

Manos Unidas Community Center

Fundraiser a success!

The BBQ fundraiser was an overwhelming success. More than 130 people showed up and we raised a substantial amount of money -- all of which goes directly to helping the El Balazo Taqueria workers. A longer report with updates about the legal case will be posted soon, but in the meantime, here are a few pictures from the event.

Note of Solidarity from the Oakland Education Association

July 19, 2008

To the workers of El Balazo Taquerias:

On behalf of the nearly 3,000 members of the Oakland Education Association, I would like to send our wishes of solidarity and support to you, the workers of El Balazo Taquerias, who were rounded up by ICE agents on May 2, 2008. Coming just one day after state-wide marches and rallies in support of immigrant rights, these raids were a conscious effort to terrorize and undermine the growing movement for the rights of immigrant workers. We stand with you in opposing these vicious raids and the threat of deportation, and honor your willingness to stand up in resistance.

Although regretfully I am unable to attend this barbeque held to support your efforts, I am with you in spirit as you continue to resist these egregious attacks.

In solidarity,

Betty Olson-Jones

President, Oakland Education Association

Donations needed!

Because of the raids and their impending court dates, many of the workers at the El Balazo Taquerias have not been able to find work. As a result, they need help, monetarily and otherwise, to make ends meet.

You can donate money, of course, by writing a check to "EBASE" with "El Balazo" in the memo line (see the right-hand bar of this blog for more details). Monetary donations are especially important in that they help pay for legal fees, rent, food, and medical expenses, all of which are sorely needed.

But if you have any of the following and would be willing to donate them to the El Balazo workers and their families, it would be sincerely appreciated.

• Diapers (for children ages 0 to 4); also diapers for an 11 year-old boy
  
• Children's clothes (for girls: 9 month-old, 3 year-old)
• Adult shoes and clothes (for men)
• Maternity clothes
• School supplies for children (ages 5, 8, 10, and 16)

Special help is needed, also, in finding a house for rent in Tracy, CA.

You can bring these to the BBQ fundraiser (details below and in the right-hand bar) or email us at balazodefense@gmail.com for other arrangements.

San Jose Mercury

The Balazo workers are written up in a longer article about trends in ICE raids and prosecutions. Here's what Evelyn Sanchez had to say:

But critics of ICE's methods say the government has targeted more and more undocumented immigrants with costly detention and deportation in recent years while leaving employers who hire them off the hook.

"When you start realizing where all of their resources are going to, it's really about picking up undocumented immigrants," said Evelyn Sanchez, director of the Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition. "They kind of see it as a badge of honor that on a yearly basis, they detain almost 1 million immigrants."

Sanchez is providing legal assistance for some of the 63 illegal workers, most from Mexico, who were detained by ICE on May 2 when the agency raided El Balazo, a chain of taquerias across the East Bay and in San Francisco.

Asian Law Caucus Event on the Balazo Workers

From the APA for Progress Website:

July 9 - San Francisco - Asian Law Caucus Brownbag Series: ICE RAIDS: THE GREAT IMMIGRATION PANIC. Presented by Sin Yen Ling (Staff Attorney). An escalating campaign of raids in homes and workplaces has spread indiscriminate terror among millions of people who pose no threat. The recent Iowa raids at the Agriprocessors, Inc. meatpacking plant, netting some 400 workers, led to 270 immigrants facing five months of jail time for using false documents for work. In 2006, the Swift raids, happening across several states including Texas, Nebraska, Colorado, Iowa and Minnesota led to the arrests of some 1,200 workers in one single day. In May 2008, ICE in the Bay Area conducted raids at a chain restaurant called El Balazo and conducted home raids near Elementary Schools in Oakland and Berkeley. Join us for a discussion on Asian Law Caucus’ involvement in representing the El Balazo workers and parents who were victims of the school raids:

July 9, 12PM to 1:15PM
Asian Law Caucus on 939 Market Street, Suite 201 (2nd Floor)
San Francisco, CA 94103.
(415) 896-1701.

If you’d like to attend, email Angela Chan at angelac@asianlawcaucus.org.

BBQ Fundraiser for the El Balazo Workers' Defense Fund

Join us and other activists, friends, and family members as we raise money to help support the workers at the El Balazo Taqueria.

BBQ Fundraiser
for Immigrant Workers’ Rights!
Saturday, July 19 from
2pm to 7pm
1548 Woolsey Street
Berkeley, CA 94703
$10 to $100 sliding scale donation requested

All the money will go directly to support the basic needs of the more than 45 El Balazo workers’ families, including: food, clothing, toys, school supplies and legal expenses.

We hope that you, your organization, union or community group will consider helping us make our first event a big success by attending the event and/or making a donation to the fund.

RSVP here. Download a flier for the event here.

Here’s how you can support the El Balazo workers.

1. Endorse the BBQ by donating $25 to $500

2. Donate food or beverages to the BBQ

3. Tell your friends and family, as well as any groups that you belong to about the BBQ and ask them to attend

Checks can be written to East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE) (make sure to write “El Balazo Defense Fund” in the memo line)

Defense Committee Newsletter #1

5/28/08 - On Friday, May 2, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) surrounded and raided 11 El Balazo restaurants in San Francisco and several East Bay cities.

This was ICE’s largest and most aggressive Northern California raid to date. Workers and witnesses report that undercover ICE agents entered the Balazo restaurants, ordered lunch, sat down to eat and then proceeded to call in uniformed ICE agents to surround the restaurants, block exits, aggressively interrogate all employees, search workers’ personal belongings and detain 63 workers despite not having a single arrest warrant!!

This egregious raid is part of what ICE has called a “surge” in detentions since late April 2008 which has resulted in over 900 immigrant detentions in California - 441 of these which were made in Northern California. However, immigrant workers, leaders and supporters are fighting back! The Balazo workers have also decided to stand up for themselves and their families and they need all the support we can give them.

Here’s how we’re fighting back:
• A team of more than a dozen Bay Area lawyers are working pro-bono to defend the workers in immigration court. This is possible thanks to the following organizations:

• Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC)***
• American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) – Northern California Chapter
• National Lawyers Guild (NLG) – San Francisco Chapter***
• Asian Law Caucus***
• San Francisco Immigrant Legal and Education Network (SFILEN)
• International Institute of the East Bay***

• On Monday, May 5th over 300 immigrant leaders and supporters picketed the San Francisco ICE office at 630 Sansome Street to denounce all raids and detentions and to demonstrate solidarity with the Balazo workers. This was possible thanks to the following organizations:

• East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE)
• East Bay Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice

• On Tuesday, May 27th, over 50 immigrant leaders and supporters came out to support the workers at their initial ICE hearing. This was possible thanks to the following organizations:

• La Raza Centro Legal***
• Movement for Unconditional Amnesty

• The Balazo workers are organizing meetings to discuss legal and community strategies with the help of supporters. We thank the following organizations for their support in helping to organize these meetings:

• Contra Costa Interfaith Supporting Communities Organizing (CCISCO)
• Catholic Charities, Concordo Monument Community Partnership
• International Socialist Organization (ISO)***
• Manos Unidas Presbyterian Churcho New Life Ministries

BAY AREA IMMIGRANT RIGHTS COALITION -- BAIRC is a broad-based coalition of individuals and organizations working to build a unified voice for immigrant rights that transforms and improves the lives of immigrants. We do this by forging strong, working relationships between member organizations, advocating for just public policies, raising public awareness about the rights and living conditions of immigrants, and increasing the capacity of member organizations to work on immigrant issues.

(***Member organizations of BAIRC)

BAY AREA IMMIGRANT RIGHTS COALITION 310 EIGHTH STREET, SUITE 303 • OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA 94607 PHONE: 510-839-7598 • FAX: 510-465-1885 • WWW.IMMIGRANTRIGHTS.ORG