by Following the suspension of dozens of Market Basket employees in New Bedford, the Department of Homeland Security reported that more than 150 employees were determined to be undocumented workers in the United States.
Adrian Ventura, executive director of the charity Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores in New Bedford, announced that at least 47 workers at the Market Basket on Sawyer Street were suspended on July 21. In order to help the organization and the workers’ families with food, rent, bills, bonds, and legal fees, Ventura released the information in an online fundraiser.
A Notice of Suspect Documents was sent to Market Basket by Homeland Security Investigations. According to a statement released by DHS on June 25, employees’ I-9 forms were deemed invalid. Citizens and legal noncitizens alike fill out the AnI-9, a form used to verify employee eligibility.
According to the agency’s inquiry, 167 employees were not permitted to work.
According to a senior DHS official’s emailed statement, the investigation is still underway and no arrests have been made as of yet. Our efforts to safeguard economic stability, national security, and public safety while rescuing people who might be victims of labor trafficking or exploitation continue to be anchored on workplace enforcement.
Whether the 167 Market Basket workers are based in New Bedford or somewhere else in the business was not verified by DHS.
A Market Basket representative acknowledged that DHS opened an investigation in 2023 after requesting the I-9s of the workers at the New Bedford facility.
According to the spokeswoman, (DHS) recently discovered that a number of those employees’ paperwork had not been properly updated, which resulted in their suspension. As soon as the workers update their documentation, Market Basket is excited to welcome them back to work.
A request for response on the DHS statement about the number of undocumented workers was not answered by Market Basket.
Advocate: Market Basket suspensions directly related to ICE activities
According to Ventura, who spoke to The Boston Globe, many of the workers had legitimate visas at the time of their hiring, but others have since expired.He added that several employees had been with the store for over ten years. A number of workers without work permits have been placed on indefinite leave, he continued.
According to Ventura, who informed the newspaper, workers were summoned to a meeting with Market Basket management, where they were required to show their work authorization.
Ventura posted on the GoFundMe to indicate that the business acknowledged that the suspensions were directly connected to ICE actions.
Speaking Spanish, Ventura told the Globe that there are single women with three or four children. While working construction, the husband of one employee was deported after becoming entangled in an immigration raid. She is currently in limbo. It’s a total catastrophe.
The PresidentThe administration of Donald Trump first claimed that ICE will target foreign nationals with criminal histories for deportation. However, ABC News reported earlier this month that more and more migrants who have no previous history are being apprehended.
According to senior DHS officials, hiring illegal aliens also encourages risky and unlawful behavior, such as social security fraud. Real American mothers, fathers, students, and disabled workers are behind every stolen social security number discovered by these operations, and they are currently dealing with terrible financial, emotional, and legal repercussions.
New Bedford s immigrant population targeted by ICE
Census data shows that over 20,000 people, or more than a fifth of New Bedford’s population, are foreign-born. In New Bedford, ICE has targeted individuals on multiple occasions. A man without a criminal record who had entered the country illegally was arrested by federal officials in April after they broke a car window with a sledgehammer. A month later, the man was set free.
According to The Standard-Times of New Bedford, ICE detained eight crew members for a drywall company last month, and the New Bedford Light claimed that other men were taken close to a restaurant in the city’s South End district.
According to Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores GoFundMe, ICE also detained three Guatemalan car wash employees in March.
Since then, our community has seen a number of other ICE raids, two of which have featured physical violence, Ventura stated. We are aware that neighborhoods like ours, which are home to many vulnerable immigrants, are under government surveillance.
Molly Farrar works for Boston.com as a general assignment reporter, covering topics such as politics, crime, and education.
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