UFCW Women
Sonia Mendoza

Six days a week, Sonia Mendoza trims brisket at the JBS-Swift plant in the small town of Cactus, Texas. The hardworking mother of three has been working at the plant ever since she graduated from high school. It’s tough work, but she needs the $13.75/hour to support herself and her children. Over the years, she’s seen many workers come and go. Swift regularly hires new workers but most can't tolerate the labor and quit. "One or two out of 40 stay,” she says.

On December 12, 2006, nearly 200 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents clad in black and wielding guns stormed her plant, rounded up workers and began systematically searching them.

 “I was terrified,” says Mendoza, who says the sudden raid “seemed like a terrorist attack.”

The ICE agents had warrants to investigate claims that some workers were using fake documents to work for the company, but most of the workers had no idea what was going on. 

"They never showed us IDs that they were ICE agents or government agents,” she said. “The whole plant felt we were under house arrest. We wondered, 'Do they have the right to use these guns and kill people?'"

“Everyone had to get searched,” Sonia continues. She removed her jacket and emptied her pockets as they searched for weapons.  But when agents said she would have to undergo a pat-down as well, she refused and requested a female officer. She was told no female officer was available.

When Sonia again refused, the ICE agent told her she could get in trouble if she didn’t let him search her. Bewildered and angry, Sonia consented. “He patted me down after I had requested a lady to come and search me.”

Thousands of innocent workers were detained for hours with no food or water and unable to call their families. Loida Cruz, a UFCW member who works at the Swift plant in Worthington, Minnesota, was forced to use the bathroom in front of agents who would not even allow her to close the stall door.  Some workers were held in handcuffs. Others were herded onto buses and shipped hours away from their homes.

"All of us had our rights violated," said Sonia. “They held us all day and we were not free to leave.  ICE detained everyone in the plant while they looked for a few people.”

Not content to just sit back and let this abuse of citizens’ rights continue, Sonia and several other workers are leading the fight to these inhumane raids. With the support of the union, Swift workers have found the inspiration and strength in each other they need to be a voice against the injustice they’ve experienced.

“The Constitution gave us all these rights,” says Sonia. “They violated our rights."