WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency were named in the lawsuit as defendants in the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
The union is seeking a court intervention to prevent ICE agents from arresting and detaining workers while at their workplace.
"This lawsuit is about ensuring that workers are protected and that their constitutional rights are respected,” said UFCW International President Joe Hansen, in a statement. "It is unconscionable that our government would round up hundreds, sometimes thousands, of innocent workers in an effort to target a few select individuals."
The suit was brought against the DHS and ICE agency after a Dec. 12, 2006, incident where more than 12,000 meatpacking workers were swept up in ICE raids at six meat packing plants across the country. As a result of the raid, 65 workers were indicted for identity theft.
UFCW International contends in the lawsuit that during the raids workers were denied access to telephones, bathrooms and legal counsel and that those arrest were deprived of the opportunity to retrieve documents to establish their legal status. The lawsuit also alleges union lawyers and representatives were not given prompt access to UFCW members during and immediately after the raids.
“The Department of Homeland Security routinely violates the Constitution and federal law when it conducts work place raids to detect undocumented workers by engaging in mass detentions of all workers without any basis for believing that they have violated any laws," said Peter Schey, president of the Los Angeles-based Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law and the lead counsel in the UFCW litigation.
