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Meta Cafeteria Workers Did What Execs Won't: Took on ICE and Won - Wired
As immigration agents raided factories and other workplaces across the United States last June, staff at a Meta café in Bellevue, Washington, made a pact: They would rally together if the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown affected any one of them. In December, the agreement met its first test.
Under a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement program, federal authorities had detained Serigne, a Senegalese asylum seeker and the brother of dishwasher Abdoul Mbengue. “I didn’t know what to do at first, but we had this community, and I told them this news,” Mbengue says through a coworker who is translating his French.
A number of the cooks, dishwashers, and front-of-house staff at the Meta café known as Crashpad are from Africa, the Caribbean, or Ukraine. Some of them, including Mbengue, are in the US on temporary authorizations while awaiting the resolution of asylum or immigration cases. President Donald Trump has sought to curb temporary protection and granting of permanent asylum, though some of his directives are being challenged in court.
In December, Mbengue’s colleagues launched a fundraising campaign to pay for the legal defense of his brother, who came to the US in 2023 to escape challenging circumstances in Senegal. As café workers honored their earlier agreement, word spread on group chats among social and environmental activists at other big tech companies in the region. A longtime software engineer at Amazon, for instance, donated $100, then added $500 after learning more about the “nightmare,” he says, speaking anonymously because of company rules regarding media interviews. Thousands of dollars altogether came in from Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon workers. On February 24, a judge ordered the release of Mbengue’s brother. “He is back because of the efforts,” Mbengue says.
Under a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement program, federal authorities had detained Serigne, a Senegalese asylum seeker and the brother of dishwasher Abdoul Mbengue. “I didn’t know what to do at first, but we had this community, and I told them this news,” Mbengue says through a coworker who is translating his French.
A number of the cooks, dishwashers, and front-of-house staff at the Meta café known as Crashpad are from Africa, the Caribbean, or Ukraine. Some of them, including Mbengue, are in the US on temporary authorizations while awaiting the resolution of asylum or immigration cases. President Donald Trump has sought to curb temporary protection and granting of permanent asylum, though some of his directives are being challenged in court.
In December, Mbengue’s colleagues launched a fundraising campaign to pay for the legal defense of his brother, who came to the US in 2023 to escape challenging circumstances in Senegal. As café workers honored their earlier agreement, word spread on group chats among social and environmental activists at other big tech companies in the region. A longtime software engineer at Amazon, for instance, donated $100, then added $500 after learning more about the “nightmare,” he says, speaking anonymously because of company rules regarding media interviews. Thousands of dollars altogether came in from Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon workers. On February 24, a judge ordered the release of Mbengue’s brother. “He is back because of the efforts,” Mbengue says.
https://www.wired.com/story/how-meta-cafeteria-workers-rallied-to-take-on-ice/