By Dan Glaun, Globe Staff; Photo credit: Globe Staff
NEW BEDFORD — More than 200 demonstrators marched through the city’s North End on Sunday to commemorate International Workers’ Day and condemn the Trump administration for immigration detentions that have sent shockwaves through this community.
Union leaders, immigrant advocates and political organizers said the march held special significance this year, given the federal government’s intensified targeting of local undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained three men who worked at a local car wash in March, and video of agents smashing a car window to detain a Guatemalan asylum seeker in the city last month drew national attention.
“It’s really important that we continue this organizing and continue to resist ICE aggression, to kick them out of New Bedford and kick them out of the North End,” said Corrin Williams, executive director of the Community Economic Development Center of Southeastern Massachusetts.
The march began around 11:30 a.m. on Coggeshall Street, with marchers chanting slogans in English and Spanish as they walked to St Anthony of Padua Parish on Acushnet Avenue. Standing beneath the church’s sandstone spire, advocates invoked the memory of Pope Francis to call for solidarity among workers of all backgrounds.
“Pope Francis insisted that unions are called to be a voice for the voiceless,” said Maria Fortes, an organizer with Indivisible Southeastern Massachusetts.
The march proceeded to Riverside Park, where organizers celebrated the history of the labor movement and described the present moment as one of particular danger for workers.
“Today, with this administration and its attacks on unions, our communities, our public education, our health care, our essential services, our basic freedoms, we’re here uniting in our resolve to fight for a better future for all workers,” said Lisa Lemieux, president of the Southeastern Massachusetts Central Labor Council.
Lemieux cited the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant living in Maryland arrested and sent to prison in El Salvador despite a court order protecting him from deportation. Garcia was an apprentice with a local sheet metal union.
Lemieux voiced support for Tufts doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk, a Service Employees International Union (SEIU) member detained by masked ICE agents in Somerville on March 25 after the Trump administration revoked her student visa. Öztürk, who has not been charged with a crime, coauthored a pro-Palestinian op-ed in Tuft’s student newspaper and was arrested amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on what it describes as antisemitism on college campuses.
Lemieux called on workers to resist efforts to pit American and immigrant laborers against each other.
“We cannot and will not allow the ultra wealthy to divide us based on where we are from,” Lemieux said. “We stand with immigrant workers because an injury to one is an injury to all.”
Demonstrators also heard from Marilu Domingo Ortiz, whose husband Juan Francisco Méndez was arrested by ICE agents in New Bedford last month.
Méndez, a native of Guatemala, was taken from their vehicle after federal agents used an axe to smash a window, after the couple said they were waiting for their lawyer to arrive before opening the door. Ortiz recorded the incident on video, which was first published by the New Bedford Light.
Ortiz and Méndez’ attorney have questioned whether agents arrested the wrong man, saying Méndez had no criminal history and that agents called out another man’s name during the traffic stop. In an interview last month with the Globe, Ortiz said the experience had left her “outraged and fearful.”
“They took my husband without proof,” Ortiz said.
ICE has defended its handling of Méndez’ detention, describing him as “an illegally present” citizen of Guatemala who refused to comply with agents’ instructions.
“ICE concurs with the actions deemed appropriate by the officers on the scene who are trained to use the minimum amount of force necessary to resolve the situation in a manner that ensures the success of the operation and prioritizes the safety of our officers,” an ICE spokesperson said in a statement.
Dustin Cardoza, a 50-year-old elementary school teacher in New Bedford, said he was marching to support immigrant students and let them know they’re not alone. Recent immigration raids had left many students distressed, with some too scared to come to school, he said.
“They’re very afraid, and the families are afraid,” Cardoza said.
Casey Vega, a 38-year-old New Bedford resident and member of an SEUI healthcare union, said the march sent a message that the city’s workers would stick up for each other.
“We’re here today to show them that we’re gonna fight and we’re not gonna give up,” Vega said.
Published in The Boston Globe
