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On International Women's Day
We salute our sister
FLOR CRISÓSTOMO

April 2008

Who is Flor? Flor Crisóstomo is a righteous symbol of immigrant women and their struggle for dignity, family, and the right to work. She is a beacon for all immigrants and their families every day but especially today on this International Women's Day 2008.

Her three children live in Guerrero , Mexico . She has been separated from them for over seven years. Why? Because Guerrero farmers, unable to compete with huge US companies, have lost their farms. As a result Flor's family became destitute. Under NAFTA, agribusinesses pay no tariffs and are allowed to sell cheap corn to Mexico wrecking havoc on the lives of millions of peasants and workers..

Flor migrated to the United States without documents "because NAFTA made it impossible to feed my children…with the final reduction of tariffs on corn, beans, sugar and powdered milk as many as a million more Mexicans will be out of work and farmers will try to make the deadly and dangerous crossing to find work in the U.S..”

Resisting ICE raids. Flor Crisóstomo is currently in sanctuary at the Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago , supported by Familia Latina Unida/ Sin Fronteras. She is 28 years old, one of several who are today openly resisting and defying deportation and living in sanctuary. She is hiding in plain view, just as her friend and compañera Elvira Arellano did with her son, in the same church, two years ago. Elvira was deported to Mexico last year.

Flor Crisóstomo worked for IFCO Systems NV, a multinational corporation with sales of nearly $650 million. IFCO manufactures wooden pallets, crates and containers and serves Dell Inc, Target and Cargill Inc. Most of its workers in the U.S. are Latin@.”

The war on immigrants is a war on all workers. On April 19, 2005 , ICE, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency of the Department of Homeland Security, raided IFCO in 26 states. 1,187 workers were arrested, among them Flor. Last year, hundreds of thousands of workers were the victims of ICE raids and cruelly and brutally incarcerated and deported.

This is one of the biggest anti-immigrants raids seen in recent history. ICE raids are not just anti-immigrant, illegal and cruel. They are an attack against U.S. workers as they are set to bust up union campaigns and intimidate workers so no one will fight against lay-offs or home foreclosures.

Solidarity with Flor, immigrants and all workers needed. Flor states “We cannot go home to hungry eyes and we cannot leave our families here". "The combination of NAFTA and [ICE raids] is not aimed at ending the system of undocumented labor. . . . It is aimed at our destruction. . . You cannot end this terrible system if you do not legalize those whose labor you have used here because you have made it impossible for us to return home.”

"I will not be used as symbol of fear. Instead, I will continue to add my light to others to make America see what they are doing to 12 million human beings and their families.

I am one of the indigenous people [who has] survived genocide and slavery, forced assimilation and disease. . . . We will stand with dignity as my brothers and sisters in the north stood at Wounded Knee .”

On International Woman's Day we stand in solidarity with Flor Crisostomo.

To support Flor’s struggle against deportation contact the May 1st Coalition for Immigrant Rights.

NO DEPORTATION OF FLOR CRISÓSTOMO
Justice for all workers-documented and undocumented!