"In 1982, the man-made island between Oakland and Alameda played a role in Project Jobs, an initiative launched by President Ronald Reagan's Immigration and Naturalization Service that deported thousands of undocumented workers to Mexico. In late April and early May, during a recession and a period of high unemployment, federal agents swarmed factories, marched into vineyards and mushroom farms and raided sheet metal plants to arrest undocumented workers who held high-paying jobs anything paying more than the $3.35 an hour minimum wage."
"Unlike today's raids, the agents did not wear masks, but they used familiar tactics, according to a lawsuit filed by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. Agents swept up U.S. citizens, detained immigrants without probable cause to suspect they were in the country without legal authorization, kept them in handcuffs for hours without telling them their rights, and harassed others to sign away their legal rights."
Coast Guard Island served as a detention and deportation site on April 27, 1982, during Project Jobs. Project Jobs was an initiative by the Immigration and Naturalization Service under President Ronald Reagan that deported thousands of undocumented workers to Mexico. The raids occurred during a recession and high unemployment and targeted anyone earning above the $3.35 hourly minimum. Federal agents conducted more than 50 raids in Northern California, arresting hundreds. A lawsuit by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund alleged agents detained people without probable cause, held them handcuffed for hours without informing them of their rights, and pressured others to sign away legal protections. Many detainees were transferred to Coast Guard Island and gathered in a basketball gymnasium awaiting deportation by bus.
Read at www.berkeleyside.org
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]