Change to Win Condemns ICE Raids in North Carolina

Calls for Immigration Reform that Gives All Workers a Chance to Achieve the American Dream

WASHINGTON, DC – Following is a statement from Greg Tarpinian, Executive Director of Change to Win, on last night’s raid by agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on the homes of workers at the Smithfield meatpacking plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina:

“It becomes clearer every day that the Bush Administration has decided that pleasing its base with acts of political theater is more important than finding a real solution on immigration. And the human cost of that decision becomes clearer every day as well.

“We see the cost in families torn apart by armed agents at gunpoint. We see the cost in thousands of innocent U.S. citizens and legal immigrants being rounded up and detained for questioning. We see the cost in lives turned upside down. We see the cost in whole communities coming to fear the knock on the door in the dead of night.

“This latest raid by ICE further calls into question the wisdom of the Administration’s decision to bring military-style tactics to immigration enforcement. We reject any immigration policy that relies on employing ‘shock and awe’ tactics against hard-working people, many of whom are citizens or fully documented legal immigrants, and we call on Congress to reform our immigration system so that every working man and woman in this country has a chance to achieve the American Dream.”