Help Detained Ohio Farmworkers

In the early morning hours of Tuesday, June 6, a man dressed in civilian clothes walked into Corso’s Nursery and Garden Center, in Sandusky, Ohio, carrying three boxes of donuts and announcing a company meeting. It was a distraction. Within moments, nearly 200 heavily-armed federal agents entered the facility with canine units announcing an ICE raid. Over 100 farmworkers were detained and sent to far off detention centers in Youngstown and Battle Creek, Michigan, where most remain incarcerated today. Nearly 200 U.S. citizen Latino children wait to be reunited with their parents. Some of the detained workers are finally getting hearing notices for immigration court, where they can try for release on bond and be reunited with their families.
As families began picking up the pieces of the disaster from the Corso’s raid, ICE agents struck again. Last week, federal agents conducted another raid at Fresh Mark, a company with various locations in Ohio, and arrested scores of additional Latino workers. The resources in these communities are completely depleted, there will be no income for the foreseeable future, and many hundreds of children will likely lose a parent or both parents to deportation.
HOLA has established a bond fund to be utilized in collaboration with the teams of volunteer attorneys assisting the detained workers. A generous donor is providing $25,000 in matching funds! Please assist us in reaching our goal of $50,000 in bond funds to help these farmworker families.
Sponsored by, HOLA Ohio