As more details come out about the federal raids on six meatpacking plants two weeks ago, union officials continue to voice concerns about the agents’ methods.
In particular, the Feds’ habit of detaining legal workers, and denying detainees access to lawyers, are drawing closer scrutiny. In their defense, a spokesman for the bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement say they followed the law to the letter.
But a recounting of the Minnesota raid in a recent McClatchy story gives an example that illustrates how two sides can see a situation very differently:
While American citizens were sent to a room where cardboard boxes were kept, the others were sent to company training rooms, she said. DeVries estimated there were at least 100 ICE agents in blue jackets “all over the place.”
When you got upstairs, all you saw was people in blue,” she said. “They were guarding every doorway. And you could see (through the window) down to the parking lot. They were there too – along with the charter buses with the dark windows that said `Homeland Security.'”
The number of ICE officials at the Worthington plant, their demeanor and their weapons created an atmosphere of fear and intimidation, charged Minneapolis attorney Bruce Nestor, who was in the plant for the last hour of the raid.
Immigration authorities said in federal affidavits that workers were free to leave at any time, Nestor said. But leaving would have seemed impossible.
“Based on what I saw . . . no reasonable person would have felt free to leave,” Nestor said. “The building was surrounded. There were buses ready to take people away. People believed they had to be interviewed.”
Meanwhile, Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty (R) has spoken out in favor of the raids.
