Gillette Stadium Workers Arrest

Photo: Press Conference on February 11th, 2010 at St. Charles Church on Dexter St. in Providence

Gillette Stadium Workers Arrest

January 6th 2010

     Federal Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agents detained dozens of Guatemalan immigrants who were on their way to Gillette Stadium to shovel snow before the weekend’s New England Patriots playoff game, and then reportedly drove many of them back to the stadium to work, during a federal search for fugitives from deportation.

     The workers’ situation sent shock waves through a Providence Latino community well acquainted with immigration raids. The Foxborough operation still stunned diplomats and advocates because officials had hoped the federal government would focus only on criminals, which is the agency’s stated priority, and not on ordinary workers with no previous convictions.

     Stacey James, spokesman for Gillette Stadium and the Patriots, said the stadium hired a contractor to clear the snow from the stands, walkways, and field in preparation for Sunday’s big game, and he asserted that company is responsible for making sure that all its workers are here legally.

     “We go through a vendor and pay for a workforce to provide a service,’’ he said. “We expect them to vet all employees.” James identified Legal Pro-Temps Inc., of Dorchester, as the company that provided the workers last week, and whose contract has now been canceled. Just how the workers were recruited from Providence remains unknown. Some workers have said they were contacted by friends, or friends-of-friends, whenever work was available at the stadium, but they did not know the names of the people who paid them in cash every week for their work. Nor did they know what company — or individual — had hired them. The Patriots insisted on a signed contract that called for qualified workers “dressed appropriately for the job”. They paid Legal Pro-Temps “an hourly rate, well in excess of minimum wage for each day-hire worker for the entire time they are on the site”, James said. The single room that Legal Pro-Temps maintained within a second-floor accountant’s office was cleared a week or so after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained the workers on January 6th.

     On a day that never got above freezing, some were ill equipped for the cold — and the rigors of the job. They shivered in sweatshirts and hoodies and frozen sneakers as they hurled the snow into giant chutes. One woman was pregnant. Seven workers were minors. The youngest was a 14-year-old boy. The federal operation raises questions about the legal status of temporary workers at one of the state’s premier sports complexes, and about the responsibility of companies that hire subcontractors to verify the legal status of their employees. Some of the victims testified that they had time for “only a few sips” of water, because their ‘American’ supervisor “would yell” if they took too long, or talked too much. Workers snuck toward the back of the stadium to drink water “when he [the supervisor] wasn’t looking”, Roberto Castro said. Guillermo Ramos, another of the workers, said on Friday, “The gringo said, ‘Hurry up, you are here to work, not to drink.’” He said the supervisor wore a Gillette jacket.

     Nine men from Guatemala living in Rhode Island were detained and are facing deportation. Seven of them are still being held at Bristol County jail. Five who illegally reentered the country after having been deported are being referred to the US attorney’s office for criminal prosecution. Carlos Escobedo, Guatemala’s consul general in the region, said immigrants caught up in Wednesday’s road stop, who are now flooding the consulate with calls for help, appear to be ordinary workers, not criminals. He said he is helping them find legal assistance to determine whether they have the right to stay in the United States.

     Community groups are working with the consulate, including Immigrants in Action, the Olneyville Neighborhood Association, Fuerza Laboral (Power of Workers), the International Institute of Rhode Island, and Immigrants United, all in Providence, and the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition in Boston and the Maya K’iche Organization of New Bedford. A press conference was organized on February 11th in Providence to mobilize support for the worker’s cause.

A fundraiser will be held for the workers and their families on Saturday February 20th from 12noon until 5pm at St. Teresa's Church located at 275 Manton Avenue in Providence.