We got this from Elizabeth Ortega-Toro, Community Services Director of the Alameda Labor Council/United Way of the Bay Area:

Workers at the Pacific Steel Castings foundry in Berkeley face the imminent firing of dozens of employees.

At a briefing for public office holders held at noon on Wednesday, workers asked East Bay elected officials to intervene with the Department of Homeland Security to stop the firings.

The briefing was organized by their local union, Glass Molders Pottery and Plastics Workers Local 164B, and by the Alameda Labor Council. Leaders of local labor unions, churches and community and civil rights organizations presented letters, City Council resolutions and testimony to demonstrate overwhelming community opposition to the firings.

Workers at the Pacific Steel foundry face an audit of I-9 immigration forms, often referred to as a “silent raid,” by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement branch of DHS. The audit may lead to the termination of workers who ICE alleges have no legal immigration status. That could affect many of the foundry's workers. Similar I-9 audits have led to the mass firing of hundreds of janitors in San Francisco, and thousands of other workers throughout the country in the last year.

Audits, and the use of the E-Verify database, is a leading immigration enforcement strategy of the Obama administration. Despite statements by DHS officials, however, that immigration enforcement is focusing on criminals, these firings focus on people whose crime is simply that they are working for a living.

The workers at Pacific Steel have steady, well-paying union jobs and support many other people in their families. Many have worked at the foundry for more than a decade, some more than two decades. 

“The union is responsible for representing and protecting union members against any violation of human rights” said Ignacio DeLaFuente, international vice-president of the GMP.

“If these skilled workers are removed from the foundry, the operation of the business will suffer greatly,” said Josie Camacho, executive secretary of the Alameda Labor Council.  “If the foundry were to close as a consequence, it would be an economic disaster for the Bay Area. The company and the workers pay taxes that support local schools and services, which cannot afford to lose money desperately needed in these challenging economic times.”

Resolutions supporting the workers have already been passed by the city councils in Berkeley and Oakland, and many elected officials have already stated their opposition to the possible firings. 

“These audits affect workers in many other workplaces beyond Pacific Steel,” Camacho added. “They could deepen unemployment, and make recovery from the current recession more difficult. That should concern the administration as it faces a national election in 2012.”