ICE Audit Empties Grocer’s ILLEGAL Workforce

Fresh Direct immigration audit spurs staff walkout
Nathan Duke

Nearly 100 warehouse workers walked off the job at Fresh Direct last week after federal immigration officials initiated an audit of the Long Island City-based grocery distributor, the president of a Teamsters local that has been trying to unionize the workers said.

The workers, most of whom were in their 30s or 40s, left the Fresh Direct warehouse on Borden Avenue in Long Island City in early December after they quit or were suspended because they could not fill out paperwork required for an Immigration and Customs Enforcement audit, Teamsters 805 President Sandy Pope said. The employees, many of whom could not pick up their paychecks after the walkout, could not prove they were authorized to work in the United States, she said.

“This was very sudden,â€