By ERWIN FREED
ICE agents kidnapped Victor Sánchez at a routine immigration check-in in Hartford, Conn., on Wednesday, Sept. 24. Victor is a community leader, father, and worker. He is involved not only with immigrant justice organizing but also helping people achieve sobriety. Victor has been in the United States since 2004. According to a press release sent by Make the Road CT and Hartford Deportation Defense, “His work has included organizing food drives, supporting campaigns for worker justice like Fair Work Week, providing support for neighbors looking for legal assistance, and creating safe spaces for dialogue among people fighting for their rights.”
After Victor’s detention, calls for an emergency 6 p.m. rally and press conference spread quickly in organizing spaces and on social media. Close to 200 supporters and press gathered in a lively demonstration outside of the Abraham A. Ribicoff Federal Building, where ICE has a field office.
Speakers connected Victor’s arrest to the attacks by ICE and other agencies’ on workers around the United States. Throughout the press conference, an urgent picture was painted of ICE as one part of a multi-level attack on working-class living standards. While ICE’s budget is set to be tripled and ever more dollars are spent on war, SNAP, MEDICAID, and school funding are being drastically cut. It is worth noting also that in Connecticut, where the Democratic Party controls the entire state government, there are no protections against immigrants on Medicaid having their information shared with ICE.
Victor’s kidnapping is the latest in a string of obviously politically motivated ICE arrests. Alfredo Juarez Zerefino, Catalina “Xóchitl” Santiago, and many others have been kidnapped and detained as part of ICE’s ongoing terror campaign. The point is to target activists in an attempt to intimidate and silence the rest of the community. One speaker at the press conference warned attendees not to believe the propaganda and rhetoric that migrant workers are creating this violence.
Speakers were generally critical of the state’s government and its federal representatives. The theme of the mobilization could be summed up with the slogans: “We have the power to stop these attacks! The people united will never be defeated!”
Emergency, statewide mobilizations in defense of migrant activists and community members and against ICE‘s constant escalations show the energy that is mounting for a real, nationwide mass movement.
Workers’ Voice demands the immediate release of Victor Sanchez and all political prisoners. We are committed to working in the union and social movements to turn every attack on workers into a moment to expand and strengthen working-class organization and to win the freedom of our community members.
