Union Calls on Trump Administration to Halt Deportation of Manufacturing Workers

Louisville, Ky. ‒ Earlier this week, nearly 200 workers who assemble dishwashers, refrigerators, washers and dryers, and other home appliances at the GE/Haier Appliance Park facility received notices that they have been targeted for deportation by the Trump Administration and must leave the country by April 24. The workers are members of IUE-CWA Local 83761.

“We were outraged to learn that nearly 200 of our union members at GE/Haier Appliance Park are being targeted for deportation by the Trump Administration,” said IUE-CWA Local 83761 President Dino Driskell. “These workers came to this country legally and are hard-working, tax-paying members of our community, raising their families and living their lives peacefully. They come to work every day at GE/Haier to build appliances for the American people. They deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, not ripped from their families to be shipped away. We have over 20 languages spoken at Appliance Park, and we believe diversity is a strength, not a weakness. We call on the administration to restore their status immediately.”

“What is happening to our members at Appliance Park is unfolding at workplaces and in communities all across the country,” said IUE-CWA President Carl Kennebrew. “As union members, we all want to be treated with respect in the workplace and to have the freedom to build a better life for ourselves and our families. We cannot allow those who are sowing division to win. Blaming immigrants is an age-old trick to create fear and distract us from the takeover of our economy by billionaires. We all must speak out against these cruel attacks on our communities.”

“The IUE-CWA members who are being targeted by the Trump Administration came to the United States to find safety and a better life,” said CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. “Now their lives are being endangered and their families are being torn apart by extremists who thrive on creating fear. Our elected officials can and must stop allowing our communities to be weakened and disrupted by these reckless and immoral deportations.”

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About CWA: The Communications Workers of America represents working people in telecommunications, customer service, media, airlines, health care, public service and education, manufacturing, tech, and other fields.

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