June 10th, 2025… a day that will live in infamy for America’s immigrant community.
Omaha, Nebraska’s Glenn Valley Foods processing plant was blindsided by a large-scale early morning raid from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Over seventy workers were torn from their employment and detained, without a semblance of due process… but they did not face this crisis alone.
Standing with them was the state’s Center for Immigration and Refugee Advancement (CIRA), one of the nation’s leading advocacy organizations upholding the rights and dignity of honest, hardworking people.
Roxana Cortes-Mills, the legal director for CIRA, immediately took steps to address this unwarranted action. When over sixty individuals were sent to North Platte’s Lincoln County Jail, her team went in to ensure no one was subject to inhumane treatment while in custody, guaranteeing access to essential needs.
CIRA’s diverse staff was able to communicate with detainees effectively... language barriers shouldn’t prevent anyone from being steamrolled by the process. They provide free legal representation, ensuring everyone is able to exercise their right to stand before a judge and plead their case. Profiling based on language, and often skin color, is not allowed on CIRA’S watch.
In an unprecedented hostile climate towards immigrants, out of control overreach by ICE agents, and media-generated misinformation, CIRA works to change the narrative. They push back against assumptions of criminality, and foster understanding that people are just trying to earn an honest wage.
The American labor movement is the prime catalyst for advancement… CIRA maintains that immigrant workers not only deserve said advancement, but they have in fact revitalized urban centers in need for a workforce to boost their economies.
At the end of the day, the efforts of Cortes-Mills and CIRA are saving lives and continuing the glorious American tradition of organized labor.
