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
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