World Cup workers threaten strike - afraid of ICE

Published:

World Cup workers threaten strike - afraid of ICE
Photo: Jae C. Hong/AP/TT

SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles is getting ready to welcome 70,000 fans when the home nation, the USA, plays its first match in the World Cup.

It risks becoming a match without food and drink as 2,000 union members prepare to strike.

"It would be sad. I've been a big football fan since I was a child and I've always dreamed of seeing a World Cup match," says Cesar Zamaro.

He is a bartender and, together with other members of Local 11, is demanding a pay raise and that immigration police ICE stay away.

"Feeling worried"

ICE is the federal force that enforces the Trump administration's campaign promise to detain and deport migrants who are not authorized to be in the United States. ICE is accused of arbitrary arrests and excessive force.

"It's worrying that you can be harassed or detained by ICE just because of how you look or how you talk," says Zamaro.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, emphasizes that security is the highest priority.

"For years, ICE has been around, and people didn't know who they were. We always coordinate with all of our federal agencies and they're all going to be there, not for immigration, but for terrorist threats," Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told Fox News .

Deterrent effect

Jennifer Li, a researcher at Georgetown University Law Center and head of the Dignity 2026 network, which aims to protect workers and others during the World Cup, believes ICE's presence is wrong.

"In parts of the country with many immigrants, this has a deterrent effect. People don't want to go to work and don't want to be out in public unless they have to."

She does not see the presence of the immigration police as a problem primarily for the hundreds of thousands of visitors.

"But it is the residents who have no choice when the World Cup comes to them. That means a dramatic increase in law enforcement. At the same time, people have to get to work, travel by public transport and so on. We are worried about those living in the cities that FIFA can make no promises about when it comes to ICE."

She doubts that ICE could help increase security at the event.

"I think many would say that ICE doesn't have a constructive role to play in this country right now, given the reputation they've earned," she says.

ICE , Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is formally a federal law enforcement agency with over 20,000 employees and more than 400 offices in the United States and around the world.

ICE was founded in 2003 in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Its mission is to protect the United States from cross-border crime and illegal immigration. Unlike the US Border Patrol, however, ICE operates within the country.

Earlier this year, ICE and other federal law enforcement conducted a special operation in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, during which two American citizens were shot and killed.

Loading related articles...

Tags

Author

TT News AgencyT
By TT News AgencyEnglish edition by Sweden Herald, adapted for our readers

Keep reading

Loading related posts...