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08-09-2008, 10:28 AM #1
PA-Union members rally for detained immigrant workers
Advertisement Posted on Fri, Aug. 8, 2008
Union members rally for detained immigrant workers
By Nick Pipitone
Inquirer Staff Writer
About a hundred union members wearing purple-and-yellow shirts crowded the Montgomery County courthouse steps in Norristown yesterday to rally for a few dozen illegal immigrants detained in a federal raid in King of Prussia last week.
Members of the union for building service workers railed against ABM Janitorial Services Inc. and federal immigration agents for luring 42 cleaners to its King of Prussia office July 31 under the guise of a mandatory meeting, and then arresting them. On Wednesday, the union held a similar rally in front of St. Patrick's Church on DeKalb Street.
"We find that ABM's decision to lead their workers to that room under false pretenses to be deplorable," Wayne MacManiman, Mid-Atlantic director of Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union, said from a podium on the steps, backed by a crowd of union members. "These tactics are not just morally unjust, but it does nothing to deal with the underlying problem of our broken immigration system."
Workers received a memo about the 4:30 p.m. meeting, telling them it was for training and discussion on new policy procedure, union spokeswoman Kate Ferranti said. They were also told they could pick up their paychecks there.
But when they arrived, they were greeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, who promptly arrested them. Agents released 22 workers that day for "humanitarian" reasons, such as health conditions and child care, Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Mike Gilhooly said. Those workers were were strapped with tracking devices and placed under house arrest. All the arrested workers will soon face deportation hearings, he said.
Federal agents conducted an audit of the company's records and found that the workers had gained employment through fraudulent documents, Gilhooly said. He said that ABM Janitorial Services was not at fault and has fully cooperated.
A majority of detained workers are Local 32BJ members, Ferranti said. They are no longer employees at ABM, said Tony Mitchell, a company spokesman.
The union "misrepresents our role and responsibility," Mitchell said. "Our policy is full compliance with the law, and as such, we cooperated with [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] in this matter."
Milhooly said that immigration agents "make no effort to terrorize people" and that the detained workers will have due process in immigration court.
Asked about the union's claim of a "broken immigration system," Milhooly said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement "enforces the laws that are on the books today."
Nine of the detained worked as janitors in the county courthouse and One Montgomery Plaza, a building of office suites acquired by the county in 2006, spokesman John Corcoran said.
The county accepted ABM Janitorial Services's low-bid of $242,016 for cleaning services in March 2007, and extended its contract for one year in February. Corcoran said the county commissioners' office heard about the raid Aug. 1, a Friday, but weren't able to contact the company and Immigration and Customs Enforcement until Monday. ABM faxed a letter to the commissioners' office Wednesday to confirm the company was cooperating with authorities. "If we were to find out later that that wasn't the case then we would terminate the contract," Corcoran said.
A few of the workers attended the rally, reluctantly. Lucia Bacilla, a house cleaner living in Norristown, teared up as she spoke to the small crowd gathered at the foot of the courthouse steps, and drew a huge response. A mother of five, Bacilla has been working for ABM for four years to support her five children back in Puebla, Mexico.
"I'm a single mom and the only way I could find work in order to sustain my family was to come here" Bacilla said to reporters afterward through a translator. "Unfortunately, in my country, there aren't jobs and there isn't work."
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08-09-2008, 10:37 AM #2
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Deport the entire group of fools
Deport the entire group of fools.......legal or illegal....they all need to go to Mexico!
Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)
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08-09-2008, 02:06 PM #3A few of the workers attended the rally, reluctantly. Lucia Bacilla, a house cleaner living in Norristown, teared up as she spoke to the small crowd gathered at the foot of the courthouse steps, and drew a huge response. A mother of five, Bacilla has been working for ABM for four years to support her five children back in Puebla, Mexico.
"I'm a single mom and the only way I could find work in order to sustain my family was to come here" Bacilla said to reporters afterward through a translator. "Unfortunately, in my country, there aren't jobs and there isn't work."
Why are ALL these IA women "SINGLE" moms when they get caught? STOP HAVING MORE KIDS IDIOTA!!!!!Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)
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08-09-2008, 02:49 PM #4
Miguelina: my sentiments exactly...this woman presumably w/no education, no skills gives birth to 5 kids, no mention of a husband, and pays a criminal illegal alien smuggler money to scurry her across the border and she has the audacity to whine when she's arrested for illegal employment and illegal immigrant status? She jeopardized the safety, health and well-being of all those children by enlarging her family knowing she had no way of providing for them....that is a sin in my book. Sin Verguenza.
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03-29-2024, 07:37 AM in illegal immigration News Stories & Reports