# Rally in Worcester supports illegals



## PBC FL Cop (Oct 22, 2003)

Friday, March 9, 2007 
*Rally in Worcester supports immigrants caught in raid*

A CLOSER LOOK
*By Courtney Towson 
SPECIAL TO THE TELEGRAM & GAZETTE

*









Activists in Worcester march yesterday to U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern's office to demonstrate their opposition to the New Bedford raids. (T&G Staff/CHRISTINE PETERSON)

*WORCESTER- *Activists rallied in front of City Hall yesterday and marched two blocks to U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern's office to deliver a letter protesting immigration raids Tuesday at a factory in New Bedford.

The noontime rally was meant to support the illegal immigrants who were detained at the Devens Reserve Training Area, including parents separated from their children.

"We have strong concerns for the mothers and children that are being affected," said Anne J. Lewenberg, local organizer of the Worcester Immigrant Coalition. "We want to bring the mothers home."

The raid took place early Tuesday morning at the Michael Bianco Inc. leather goods factory, where immigrants worked in what federal authorities have called "deplorable conditions." More than 300 immigrants were arrested in the raid and bused to Devens, where they were placed in former Army barracks. About 150 of them have been flown to a detention center in Texas.

Since the raid, there has been continued outrage from immigrant rights groups concerning the treatment of the detainees and the children and families left behind to fend for themselves.

At City Hall, more than 25 people were on hand for the rally, including members of social services agencies and the American Civil Liberties Union.

Students from local colleges, as well as a few elderly people, were among those enduring 20-degree temperatures and a stiff wind.

Some people came to the rally equipped with homemade signs with statements such as: "Tired, poor masses still deserve to be free," with the outline of the Statue of Liberty drawn below. Another sign said: "No human is illegal."

Also yesterday, _*Gov. Deval L. Patrick urged federal authorities to not move any more factory workers out of state until their children are located and arrangements are made for their care.*_

"I urged the federal government to stop all flights out of Fort Devens immediately until we can be assured that all parents have been identified and appropriate arrangements made for their children and dependents," Patrick said at a Statehouse news conference.

Federal authorities postponed a third flight that was scheduled to depart at noon yesterday after Patrick twice called Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff seeking better cooperation from Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials at Devens.

The letter from the Worcester group to Mr. McGovern also asks him to use his authority to send a message to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security insisting that the detained workers not be transferred out of the state.

"What we have never understood about this process is why it turned into a race to the airport," Patrick said. "There are families affected; there are children affected."

Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Julie Myers said ICE agents asked each of those arrested if they were sole caregivers to children. Myers noted that 60 people were released as a result of that questioning. She said ICE was being unfairly criticized for allegedly not considering the needs of children affected by the arrests.

But Massachusetts Department of Social Services spokeswoman Denise Monteiro said one woman was still detained at Devens yesterday despite her infant's requiring hospitalization Wednesday night in New Bedford for dehydration because she could not nurse from her mother. Monteiro said the nursing mother was expected to be released and reunited with her infant last night.

Before leaving City Hall for Mr. McGovern's office, one person at the rally pointed out that it was International Women's Day. In both English and Spanish he said, "It's hard to celebrate when so many mothers are separated from their children."

Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.


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## midnightsown (Jan 15, 2007)

Ok that's it, perhaps I'm cruel and cold hearted. It's their own fault. They put their family in this position, not us, not go government. They didn't want to play fair and follow the rules now they are paying the price, and if those people are so concerned for those children they can either take them in themselves or the kids can go back with the parent. We all have choices to make and if we make the wrong ones we have to pay for it and the people that we care for have to pay as well. That's why we should all think before we go and do something illegal.


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