‘Blatantly unlawful and cruel:’ Murray meets with farmworkers

Workers met with the Senator to outline concerns about immigration enforcement and retaliation against union organizers

BURLINGTON, WA (April 29, 2025) — Farmworkers, members of Familias Unidas por la Justicia (FUJ), and local leaders met with U.S. Senator Patty Murray at the end of last week, elevating the concerns of many in farmworker communities that immigration enforcement is being used to target workers who speak up for their rights.

In attendance was Beatriz Godinez, partner of Alfredo ‘Lelo’ Juarez Zeferino, a FUJ organizer and farmworker advocate who was snatched off the street by ICE agents in March. Godinez witnessed Lelo’s detention; he had been driving her to her job in the tulip fields.

“ICE came and broke his window and pushed him against the car and were really rough with him, and put them in their ICE car,” said Godinez at the meeting with Murray, through a translator. “Lelo wants to be free so he can take care of his brothers and sisters and work so they can study… [Lelo] says that when he gets out, he wants to continue doing his work in the community and with the union, and he’s really hoping that he can get bond to be free to continue that.”

Members and leaders of Familias Unidas por la Justicia pose for a photo with U.S. Senator Patty Murray. Photo: FUJ

Juarez Zeferino, known as Lelo by many, is a prominent figure in Washington State. A public face leading marches at the State Capitol, Lelo is well-known as a fierce advocate for farm workers and their rights. For many in organized labor, there is concern that this unwavering, public commitment to fighting the exploitation of working people is what put him on the feds’ radar.

Lelo is still being held at the privately-run NW ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, commonly known as the NW Detention Center, or NWDC. GEO Group, a for-profit prison company, operates the facility.

“What happened with Lelo we feel was done intentionally to silence farm workers and leaders,” said Edgar Franks, Political Director at FUJ in a statement from Murray’s office. “Familias Unidas has been one of the unions that has been the most outspoken throughout the state and the country on issues on immigration, on labor, on various issues, on climate. And we feel that, because of that outspokenness, that…the leadership might be a potential risk for being targeted for political reasons.”

FUJ has won major changes for farmworkers in Washington, including security rest breaks, overtime, heat and smoke protections. What has made them effective — deep roots in the community, bold and public calls for action, sustained solidarity between workers — is what many now fear is making them a target. This chilling fear is motivating a call for Murray and other elected officials to take all possible steps to protect union leaders and organizers.

“We are asking for any kind of protection that can be done to give the workers and that security that they’ll be able to go work, fight for justice, and also be able to go back home to their families at the end of the day, just like everybody else,” said Franks.

Murray said the immigration enforcement actions of the federal administration forsake the bedrock principles of the U.S. The administration is “violating the Constitution, ignoring the courts, and trampling the fundamental values we hold dear as a country to do it. It’s blatantly unlawful, and more than that it is cruel. This is creating so much pain and terror in our communities. It’s separating families, scaring workers, and emboldening racism. Our farmworkers don’t deserve to be treated like criminals—they deserve respect. And I will do everything in my power to lift up your voices, fight for your communities, and hold this administration to account.”

Rosalinda Guillen, Founder of Community-to-Community Development, which has been doing deep work in Washington’s farm workers communities for decades, laid out how abnormal the federal governments’s actions are: “We’ve been overseeing immigration rights and justice for over 20 years. We’ve never seen it like this..and the way that they’re implementing the administration’s removal plan, it’s disrespectful, undignified and plain just not following due process.”

Community-to-Community and the farmworker organizing community in NW Washington are fundraising for Lelo’s legal defense fund. Donations can be made online, or checks can be mailed to: Community to Community Development PO Box 1646 Bellingham, WA 98227.