“Our Biggest Fear”: A Garment Worker Organizer on the ICE Raid That Set Off Mass Protest

What were these initial raids like from your perspective at the Garment Worker Center? Did you know they were coming, and what did you witness as they were being carried out?

Marissa Nuncio: No, we didn’t know they were coming. We participate with the LA Rapid Response Network and other rapid response networks. When we got word of it, we realized it was a garment business. It turned out to be a garment warehouse and connected store, which is pretty common out here in the garment district. These are workers that did unloading and loading and unpacking and things of that nature. For us, it signals that one of our biggest fears is happening: There are workplace raids happening in Los Angeles and a garment business was targeted. So that was very significant for us. 

We had prepared earlier in the year. With the Trump administration, we’ve been preparing different protocols. Our job is to get verified reports into members’ hands so they can make decisions. Where are they going to go out [in public]? Are they going to take the bus? Are they going to skip work? 

In this instance, the warehouse workers were also very organized and connected amongst their families and also with other coalitions of worker organizations. So we’re really following the lead of these families and just offering solidarity and support, like sharing legal contacts, amplifying with media, whatever support they need. But we’re very concerned that we’re going to see another workplace raid in a garment factory. 

Are you able to track the status of these detained garment workers? How difficult has it been to help people get information on where their family members have ended up? 

Nuncio: What we’ve heard from the families of the workers that were taken from Ambiance Apparel is that they’re having a very hard time getting information on where their family members are and where they’ve been taken to. They’re having a very hard time getting them access to counsel. Not only is it their right to have their attorney there if they ask for one and to have them present before they speak, before they sign something, but that’s a line of communication to the families, right? And so at the moment, what we’re hearing from the families is that they still don’t have that. That I think is something to just really lift up as uniquely terrifying. Your family member is rounded up by masked individuals with guns, taken away, and you do not know where they are. You don’t know, are they at this detention center, are they at that detention center, have they been deported yet? We don’t know. So that’s really alarming, and we’re hearing that across a lot of these raids, that that lack of information is a common through line. It’s something that we really have to denounce and speak out against. 

These initial raids in LA were primarily centered around targeting workers at their place of work. Why do you think the Trump administration is targeting workers specifically?

Nuncio: It’s really hard to understand the mind of this Trump administration. What is clear is that it’s a racist administration that will spew racist rhetoric and is very much about scapegoating immigrants.

I think that workplaces, unfortunately, make effective targets for ICE. They go in and they have a factory floor of people to round up, or day laborers at a Home Depot who are public and exposed. They’re just vulnerable sites for immigrants. They’re targeting low-wage industries that are staffed by immigrants. It’s just easy work for them.

But we should call out the hypocrisy of this rhetoric that they’re going after the ​“worst of the worst” criminals. They’re picking up folks who were literally just going about making their daily bread and terrorizing them in their place of work. 

It also strikes me that David Huerta, president of SEIU California, was detained in these raids. How has the Trump administration used ICE to crack down on and punish labor organizers, and how could these raids affect workers’ willingness to fight for their own rights?

Nuncio: It was absolutely unjust to detain David Huerta. He was exercising his First Amendment rights to speak out and really just was there in support of the Ambiance workers. My understanding is that the charges are pretty steep, and I think it’s to send a message. You know, ​“don’t stand up, don’t speak out, don’t organize, don’t stand up to these efforts.” I think that’s what is happening.

But what we can also see in LA is that that’s not going to work. You’re absolutely going to empower us and embolden us to fight this even more. We’re not going to allow our labor leaders to be dragged in and we’re not going to allow our community members to be taken in this way. We’re not going to allow for this denial of access to counsel without speaking out, right? Bringing these charges against him is absolutely intended to intimidate a very important union for immigrant workers. But that’s just going to embolden organizing even more, as it should.

Where do you see the potential culpability of the corporations, especially clothing manufacturers, who are employing the workers being abducted right now?

Nuncio: What we know to be commonplace in the garment industry is that when a worker complains about their rights, their immigration status is used against them. It is not uncommon for a boss to say, ​“Keep it up, complain about your wages, or the breaks that you didn’t get, or these three weeks that are still due to you. I know where you live, and I can send ICE there.” Or, ​“There’s the door. Look at everybody getting rounded up. You’re lucky to be here.”

This is quite common, so it’s absolutely a leverage point that bosses have used in this industry to intimidate their workers. And it’s not unheard of for bosses to even try to call in ICE. Now, I don’t know whether that happened in this case. Once upon a time, there were agreements in place to prohibit ICE from going in to respond to a labor dispute. That should still be enforced, but it really is the Wild West out there. There’s no due process, and no safe locations being respected. You know, we’ve got ICE at schools right now. But again, they’re vulnerable places. These are workers that are getting subminimum wages, they’re highly exploited, so it’s all very connected.

Can you talk about any of the Garment Worker Center’s current campaigns around advancing the rights of garment workers in downtown LA, and how the escalation of these raids might impact some of the broader work that you have been doing?

Nuncio: A couple of years ago, we passed S.B. 62, which was legislation to hold fashion brands accountable for wage theft in their supply chain, and it prohibits the use of the piece rate, or paying people a few cents per operation. That’s still relevant in the sense that a lot of our work is to inform workers of their rights. We run a legal clinic so that workers have a place to actually enforce their rights and have legal representation, so that work continues. 

These moments will embolden unscrupulous employers to deny their labor rights to their employees even more. It’s quite possible that we’ll see more of that. We also have been doing a lot of work over the last few years to protect the garment district in Los Angeles and bolster the industry. You know, work with us on plans and ideas for workforce development policies and task forces to improve this industry. So that work continues. I think it’s good that we have done that groundwork and have built relationships with local government, because we need all of those relationships.

Over several years now, we’ve partnered with ethical businesses. They were instrumental in passing S.B. 62 and in helping us to gain some protections for the garment district. There’s a wonderful, growing ecosystem of businesses, from factories to designers to brands, that really want to change the industry from within. They want to do the right thing. And they’re reaching out to us in this moment, saying ​“I’m worried about my workers. Can you help me understand the measures I can take to protect my workers?” That’s a great employer who’s thinking about their workforce and how to protect them, and we’re sharing information and Know Your Rights materials with them so that they can take those measures. It’s great that we’ve built those relationships and that foundation to be able to have a broader network for getting out this type of information.

If these raids continue, how will that impact the networks you’re talking about? 

Nuncio: I think that these are lightning-bolt moments where the realities of our government, the realities of exploitation and of repression are [being] revealed for people. That can politicize them. It can motivate them. They reach out and say, ​“I want to volunteer. How can I support?” And that’s great. The movement will take you at any time.

How would you encourage labor, both in LA and nationally, to meet this moment?

Nuncio: These are the moments where we need to turn to our coalitions. We need to have as much communication and joint organizing as possible. Worker centers are very much a part of the labor movement. We represent a wide scope of low-wage immigrant workers throughout the country and here in Los Angeles. We have to work together. 

We’re now trying to raise money for an immigrant worker defense fund. It will be available to our members regardless of immigration status, because these raids are picking people up with a variety of immigration statuses, including documented people. We know that people will need support for bonds. People need support for attorney’s fees. People need a variety of support in this moment. So that will be something that we’re adding into our response. We have been doing Know Your Rights trainings and immigration clinics. We don’t have immigration attorneys on staff, so we partner with immigration attorneys to run clinics for our members so they can get individual consultations. We’re trying to build out mutual aid networks, rapid response networks. And we do it typically with very modest means. 

What is your message for any garment workers or workers who feel particularly vulnerable or frightened in this moment?

Nuncio: We are here. We are staffed and ready to receive your calls, to verify reports of ICE activity and get information in your hands. We have lists of legal resources and can help you navigate that. We have mutual aid supports here and we’ll be launching, slowly but surely, a defense fund. We’re here. Please, please call us.

The Garment Worker Center can be reached at (213) 748-5866 or gwc@​garmentworkercenter.​org.