Unions protest ICE arrests of labor activists

Tacoma, Washington

Two immigrant labor activists were recently arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Washington state. Under the leadership of the Washington State Labor Council, 300 workers rallied outside the ICE detention center in Tacoma to demand their freedom on March 27.

Alfredo “Lelo” Juarez was arrested as he was dropping off his partner to work in the Tulip fields of Skagit County. ICE agents broke Juarez’s vehicle window and forced him out of his car when he tried to exercise his rights.

Juarez, a 25-year-old union activist, has been a berry harvester since he was 14. Supporters say he was singled out for his political beliefs: advocating for better wages and working conditions. Juarez is a member of Familias Unidas por la Justicia, a farmworkers union, and a member of the Indigenous Mixteco Mexican community.

Lewelyn Dixon, 61, is an immigrant from the Philippines and a permanent resident who has lived in the U.S. for over five decades.  She has now been imprisoned in the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma for over a month.

Dixon is a lab technician at the University of Washington and a member of Service Employees Local 925. Dale Stewert, one of her co-workers, said at the rally: “Lewelyn was there every day working extra hours to take care of the patients so we can provide the care they deserve.”

This is part of the billionaire-government campaign, including the arrest of pro-Palestine activists, to suppress working-class speech and resistance from Gaza to the U.S.

“Our labor movement includes every worker, no matter where they were born,” said Dulce Gutierrez, a Washington State Labor Council organizer.

Other speakers included State Labor Council Secretary-Treasurer Cherika Carter; Levin Kim, an immigrant and president of UAW Local 4121, which represents 8,000 workers at the University of Washington; and MLK Labor Deputy Executive Secretary Shaunie Wheeler. Speakers said they will continue to fight for the activists’ freedom and that more actions are planned. The union members chanted loud enough so the prisoners inside could hear them.

ICE labels Juarez and Dixon and all undocumented workers “aliens,” but it is the billionaires, Musk, Trump and others, who are the real aliens. Marxists have always called the ruling class an alien class, because its interests are directly opposed to the interests of working class people, who are fighting for survival, prosperity and a future without billionaire bosses.