UC Berkeley Workers, Students Protest Arrest of Immigrant Custodian

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2009-05-14/article/32899?headline=UC-Berkeley-Workers-Students-Protest-Arrest-of-Immigrant-Custodian

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Thursday May 14, 2009

More than 100 University of California Berkeley workers and students rallied on the steps of Sproul Plaza Wednesday, May 13, to protest the arrest of an undocumented immigrant worker by UC police last month.


AFSCME union workers protest the arrest of Jesus Gutierrez by UCPD officers during a rally at Sproul Plaza Wednesday, May 13.

The crowd denounced what they said was the UC Police Department’s collaboration with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to turn U.C. custodial worker Jesus Gutierrez over to ICE officials, and they urged the university administration to turn UC Berkeley into a sanctuary campus.

Calls and visits to UCPD Assistant Chief Mitch Celaya for comment were not returned by press time.

AFSCME union members told the Planet that UCPD officers arrested Gutierrez from UC Berkeley’s Clark Kerr Dining Commons on April 29, charging that he had used someone else’s Social Security number to work.

A press release from AFSCME Local 3299, which represents UC Berkeley workers, alleged that UC police “arrested Gutierrez and have charged him with felony identity theft, simply on the suspicion that he is an undocumented worker.”

The statement said that UCPD had contacted ICE after arresting Gutierrez, who is now being held at Santa Rita Jail. It also said that UCPD had denied Gutierrez’s request to have his union representative or a lawyer present after he was arrested

FULL story at link.