Thread: The need for money drives immigrants back to work

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The need for money drives immigrants back to work
By AARON NICODEMUS, Standard-Times staff writer



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NEW BEDFORD — When news first spread through the city's immigrant community about the federal immigration raid on the Michael Bianco Inc. factory Tuesday morning, employees emptied out of businesses throughout the waterfront and the city. Most simply got up from their work space, put on their coats and walked out.
The next day, some had returned. But by Thursday, driven by economic necessity, most of the immigrants were back at work, willing to risk arrest and possible deportation in order to earn money.
"When it happened, everyone left," said Frank Ferreira, plant manager for AML International, a fish processing plant on the waterfront. "They were paranoid. They got calls from friends and family, and they were gone."
Mr. Ferreira said this cycle — an immigration raid, followed by a mass exodus, followed by a quick return to normalcy days later — has been the pattern on the waterfront for as long as he can remember. And he's been on the waterfront for 30 years.
"It's never going to change," he said. "It's never going to end. It's just going to be disruption after disruption. The mood is somber, but people are also saying, 'Hey, we're happy it didn't happen here.'"‰"
Mr. Ferreira said things were back to normal two days after the raid.
"For them to have jobs, it's something. They're from tiny villages a world away, and they're just happy to have a job and paycheck," he said, expressing great sympathy for the plight of the illegal immigrants.
"It's a horrible thing. I mean, to have no money and no food, and one mile across the border, there's jobs," he said. "Who's not going to go?"
Juan Palacios, a Salvadoran immigrant with legal papers who drives a truck for a waterfront fish house, said people stayed away for a day or two after Tuesday's raid, but came back.
"They've got to support their families," he said. "They've got to pay the rent."
Antonio DaCruz, a U.S. citizen born in Cape Verde, said he has a lot of friends without proper documentation who are staying home from work.
"They don't want to show their faces on the street," he said. "They're all worried."
Every time Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducts a raid, cell phones start ringing and immigrants reach out to friends and family. In the last significant New Bedford raid, in December 2005, word of the raid spread panic throughout the immigrant community.
About 30 employees of Ahead Inc. left their workstations in a panic when they heard, erroneously, that ICE was raiding a factory in the business park. Immigration was, in fact, arresting 13 people in two different waterfront fish houses.
Despite the confusion, management at Ahead fired the workers for leaving without authorization.
At the same time in 2005, employees at Michael Bianco Inc. panicked as well, even though their plant was not being raided. When word of the waterfront raids surfaced, management at Michael Bianco made an announcement about the waterfront raid over its intercom system. Workers fled their workstations to their cars in the parking lot. Some opted to stay, choosing to hide in boxes on the third floor of the mill. That little bit of history of what happened at Michael Bianco in December 2005 was contained in the affidavit that ICE used to raid the Bianco factory this week.
Ondine Galvez-Sniffin, an immigration attorney with Catholic Social Services, said that many people were staying home from work in order to diminish their risk.
"People are definitely scared," she said. "We've had a lot of calls from people wondering how quickly they can file paperwork to get their legal status. And there have been some reports of ICE knocking on people's doors, after the raid."
Mr. Palacios said he had several friends who were picked up by ICE in the Bianco raid. He said the immigrant community in the city was banding together to provide the families left behind with food, clothing and other necessities.
This raid, though, has employers like Mr. Ferreira sharing the nervousness of his employees.
"Maybe the next time you talk to me, I'll be in jail," he said. "It's making everyone nervous. But I go on, and so do they. If you took all of the people off the waterfront, then who would do the work? I don't want to see us go out of business."
Contact Aaron Nicodemus
at anicodemus@s-t.com

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/03 ... 3local.htm

"Maybe the next time you talk to me, I'll be in jail," he said. "It's making everyone nervous. But I go on, and so do they. If you took all of the people off the waterfront, then who would do the work? I don't want to see us go out of business."

I sure hope the next time I read this jerk's name he's behind bars. And, yes, I'd like to see him and everyone else who hires illegal aliens go out of business.

They were back because the photo op was over and it was safe.
Pictures and made up stories aren't doing it for me anymore.
When I see the traffic drop down to March 1 'day without an illegal' level 'then' I will believe that ICE is doing it's job.