I checked my email this afternoon, and found a press release from a group called Voces de la Frontera. I am not affiliated with the group, know none of its members, and have no idea what their event will be like tomorrow, with the exception of the news that’s contained in a press release that the group emailed to adams@freewhitewater.com. (I did some quick checking, and they have spoken at different immigration reform meetings, sometimes in a local Catholic church, for example, with representatives of different labor unions, and on at least one occasion, with representatives from the offices of U.S. Senators Kohl and Feingold, attending.)
Here’s an an excerpt from the group’s press release:
VOCES DE LA FRONTERA
***For Immediate Release*** 8/7/2007
Contact: Dave Moore, Voces de la Frontera, (414) 643-1620
WHITEWATER IMMIGRATION RAID: ONE YEAR LATER
GROUPS TO UNVEIL STAR PACKAGING ‘MONUMENT’ WEDNESDAY
On August 8, a first anniversary commemoration of the raid at Star Packaging will unveil a mock Wisconsin Historical Marker at the site and formally declare the factory’s empty shell “a monument to the nation’s broken immigration system”.
Wednesday’s 10am press conference, to be held outside the factory, will begin with the unveiling and be followed by brief addresses from speakers including Executive Director of Voces de la Frontera, Christine Neumann-Ortiz, Jorge Islas, Vice President of Sigma America, and workers affected by the raid….In addition to the press conference, a vigil will be held at the factory site from 8am-10am and 5pm-8pm. A delegation will also attend the 11am sentencing of a former Star Packaging worker.
PRESS CONFERENCE WHEN / WHERE
10.00am-10.15am, August 8, 2007
Star Packaging, 960 E. Milwaukee St, Whitewater, WI 53190
In part of the release I’ve not included, the group asks for comprehensive immigration reform. From the point of view of the Whitewater police, of course, this was never an immigration matter – it was a matter of identity theft. (I’ve called that an excuse, as I’ve detailed previously.) As for immigration reform, well, I that’s no easy matter, and I know of no wholly satisfactory solution.
I am not a representative of the group, and I do not speak for them (as, of course, they do not for me). I am confirmed in my view, however, that all of this was a tragedy for which there has been no police honesty and accountability. Our community would have been better off had the raid not taken place, had no one been arrested or deported, and we had not had to endure a year of duplicitous statements about why it took place at all.