Barbelith Underground > Switchboard > The New Bedford MA Raids

22:28 / 20.03.07

Sweatshop raid un-American: City in chaos and families separated
By Thomas Keown
Monday, March 12, 2007

America is safer today than it was at 8 a.m. Tuesday. More than 300 poor and predominantly female leather stitchers have been snatched from their sewing machines in a daring armed raid by immigration officials and no longer pose a threat to New Bedford by making vests for our military at $7.50 per hour.
But the biggest reason for the raid was not, according to U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan, national security this time. Rather it was a carefully planned investigation into an unscrupulous employer - Michael Bianco Inc. - for exploiting an immigrant work force too afraid to complain about deplorable conditions. The heroic effort of Immigration and Customs Enforcement has scared the life out of these women, moved them from work stations to prison cells, and left their children frightened or with foster parents. Or at least the 210 children we know about so far.
If the scene that unfolded Tuesday morning had been beamed around the world on live TV, it is very unlikely that anyone would have guessed they were watching the United States of America. Lady Liberty lifting her lamp beside the golden door has given way to federal agents lifting their guns by the factory gates. The lives of the poor and the spirit of America are being destroyed as a result. No matter what our positions on “illegal” immigrants, surely we can all agree that people should never be treated like this.
Picture it. A voice on a loudspeaker in a packed sweatshop says, “Don’t Run. Immigration officials are in the building.” Blind panic breaks out. Hundreds of mistreated workers see their lives and their families flash before their eyes and of course they run. Some outside to be met by armed agents on one of the coldest days of the year, some to the basement and some to the floor to be trampled on by workmates desperate to save themselves. Others called their husbands to gasp that they are about to be caught and please get our child from day care.
Those who didn’t run, like Vivianda Luis Hernandes, spent nine hours handcuffed with plastic ties. A lot of time to think about who was going to take care of her 1-year-old.
In all, 361 employees were rounded up Tuesday. About 60 who could prove their children had nowhere else to go were later released. The rest were sent to detention centers around the country to await deportation hearings and worry that lives built through sweat and enduring exploitation are to be swept away into uncertainty in a foreign land.
But what of the supposed main point of the ambush? A humanitarian crisis has hit the Guatemalan and Salvadoran communities of New Bedford. A horrifically high price has been paid but at least some good has come from it, right? The factory where workers were denied overtime, docked 15 minutes for every minute they were late, fined for talking on the job or spending more than two minutes in the fetid bathrooms has been closed and those responsible are also in custody, right?
Well not quite. Owner Francesco Insolia and three of his managers were arrested Tuesday, and released Tuesday. They are due in court on March 26 but meanwhile it is business as usual. But that, after all, is surely what the Founders meant when building our nation on the notion of “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

To help with legal fees and child care: MIRA coalition.