Banners unfurled outside the Wallace F. Bennett Federal Building as 30-plus people weathered below-freezing temperatures to protest the detention of 154 people last week on suspicion of identity theft and immigration violations.
A preacher called the raid "immoral." A union member raised a sign demanding "workers' rights, human rights" for undocumented laborers.
"We see this as a racist act of state terrorism," said David Hansen, a member of the advocacy group Brown Berets in Salt Lake City.
The demonstration, staged at the corner of State and 100 South, comes one week after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents descended on Swift plants in six states as part of a 10-month document-fraud investigation.
The operation has rankled some Utahns, particularly in the Latino community, who said Wednesday that federal agents used excessive force and racial-profiling - accusations ICE officials dispute - to arrest people interested only in making a living.
The Rev. James Flynn, of St. Mary's Catholic Church, traveled from Park City to offer a prayer and join the demonstration. He objected to the raid on moral grounds.
"From a religious sense, it is immoral," Flynn said. "We are all ultimately foreigners."
A counter-protest formed across the street, mounted by members of the Utah Minuteman Project, who waved signs that read, "defending our borders, culture and language." They praised ICE agents as rooting out an immigration problem that threatens to weaken the U.S. economy.
"We need to have compassion on the American families that are losing their jobs," said Michelle Herzog, a Minuteman member. "They work hard and want to provide for their families, but they can't do it because of illegal immigration."
While Latino groups called the raid unjust, Minuteman officials quipped that undocumented immigrants indeed are breaking the law.
"We have a group of people who, because of their skin color, think they should get a pass for lawlessness," said Alex Segura, director of the Minuteman Project.
Wearing yellow bracelets that organizers said were used to mark "colored" workers at the Swift plant last week, raid protesters publicized their grievances along State Street during the evening commute.
"It is an attack on brown people," Hansen said.
ICE spokeswoman Lori Haley dismissed the group's claims of racism Wednesday, saying the raids were prompted by an identity theft investigation launched in February. She knew nothing of the yellow bracelets, but denied that ICE agents targeted Swift employees because of their skin color.
While Haley acknowledged that federal agents were heavily armed when they entered the Swift plant, she said the knives, saws and cutting tools in meat processing plants demanded such precautions.
jstettler@sltrib.com
