Trapped by Border Patrol

In March, Brandworkers member "Eliezar" was on a work assignment that took him to Vermont. His co-worker was driving and they were pulled over in what appeared to be a routine traffic stop by local law enforcement. However, this supposedly routine traffic stop turned into an exercise in racial profiling when the officers asked for immigration documentation.

Hailing from Puebla Mexico, Eliezar resides in Queens and is very active with the Brandworkers Focus on the Food Chain campaign, which helps immigrant workers organize in New York's food processing sector. He has engaged in numerous Brandworkers actions contesting sweatshop conditions and calling for respect for the hard work of retail and food employees in New York.

Soft-spoken, kind, and easy-going, Eliezar is a beloved member of his community and cared about greatly by his friends, several of whom are also Brandworkers members. His life revolves around hard work six days a week at low-pay so he can support his wife and two children back home in Puebla. Besides his family and friends, Eliezar's passion is for the Cruz Azul Mexican soccer team and he is frequently seen wearing the team's trademark blue colors.

The local law enforcement officers that pulled over the car chose to call in Border Patrol agents who subsequently arrested Eliezar. Brandworkers learned about his arrest from his co-worker who was not arrested.

Brandworkers went to work to locate Eliezar. After a bevy of phones calls, we found that Eliezar was being held at a small jail in Vermont and that his bail had been set at $20,000 even though he had no criminal record and was not being charged with any crime. Eliezar's friends could not come up with that much money and Brandworkers believed that a judge could be persuaded to lower the amount.

Brandworkers obtained pro-bono counsel to represent Eliezar in the bail component of the case and additional counsel to defend against the government's impending deportation case.

Counsel filed a petition for a hearing at which arguments could be made to reduce the bail based on Eliezar's ties to the community and good character. However, counsel learned on the day the hearing was to be held that the government had taken his case off the judge's calendar by wrongfully moving Eliezar to a private prison all the way in Polk County Texas. Once a bond petition is filed, the prisoner is not supposed to be moved.

Eliezar's lead bond attorney, Robert Walsh, argued with the clerk and insisted that he see the judge even though the case had been stripped from the calendar. The judge granted a week-delay to the government during which Eliezar continued to suffer in prison.

Finally, the government conceded that the transfer was wrong. The judge heard the bond arguments and reduced the bail to $3,500 from $20,000.

Eliezar had languished in prison for over a month before he was let out. Then he had to pay his own way on Greyhound to get back home to NYC. Thank goodness he had his ATM card and an ID on him or he would have experienced another delay getting home.

Eliezar's story represents just one of countless horrific experiences that hard working immigrants face every day in the United States. In fact, Eliezar believes he was lucky and reports that his cell mates are the ones he really feels for since they didn't have the kind of support network Eliezar had working on the outside.

Eliezar was fortunate in that 1) his co-worker didn't get arrested so his friends were able to find out that he had been arrested; 2) he had good friends who, even though they are so underpaid, had enough money saved up for bail; and 3) he was a member of an organization that could reach out to ally groups, engage in administrative advocacy, and enlist and support pro-bono counsel.

Brandworkers is grateful to have received absolutely indispensable assistance in supporting Eliezar from Families for Freedom, Vermont Refugee Assistance, The Political Asylum/Immigration Representation Project (PAIR), Robert Walsh and Associates, Hassan & Reardon PC, and the Law Office of Theodore Cox.

When Eliezar got back to NYC, we asked him how it had been in prison. He said it was tough but that after an experience like that, "one must rise up." Amen.