Meta Cafeteria workers did what executives wouldn’t: They took on ICE and won

As immigration agents Factories and other workplaces were raided across the United States Last JuneWorkers at Meta Cafe in Bellevue, Washington, have reached a deal: They will band together if the Trump administration decides Immigration campaign It affected any of them. In December, the agreement faced its first test.

Under the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement program, federal authorities arrested Sereny, a Senegalese asylum seeker and the brother of dishwasher Abdoul Mbenge. “I didn’t know what to do at first, but we had this community, and I told them this news,” Mbengue says through a co-worker translating his French.

A number of the cooks, dishwashers and receptionists at Meta Cafe, known as Crashpad, are from Africa, the Caribbean or Ukraine. Some, including Mbengue, are in the United States on temporary permits pending resolution of their asylum or immigration cases. President Donald Trump has sought to limit temporary protection and permanent asylum grants, though some of his directives are being challenged in court.

In December, Mbenge’s colleagues launched a fundraising campaign to pay for the legal defense of his brother, who came to the United States in 2023 to escape difficult conditions in Senegal. While the café workers honored their previous agreement, word spread in group chats among social and environmental activists at other major tech companies. In the region. For example, a longtime software engineer at Amazon donated $100, then added $500 after learning more about the “nightmare,” he says, speaking anonymously because of the company’s rules regarding media interviews. Thousands of dollars came from Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon workers. On February 24, a judge ordered the release of Mbenge’s brother. “It came back thanks to the effort,” says Mbenge.

This project shows how activity within the technology industry can change as big companies become less responsive Workers’ petitions and He refused to take public positions Against Trump’s policies. A decade ago, thousands of tech workers protest Against Trump’s immigration ban Together with executives. Now, workers assert that they must step in to support their colleagues with the financial and administrative assistance they believe employers should provide to vulnerable and low-income groups in their communities.

In the case of Mbingo’s workplace, he and more than 200 of his co-workers at the food hall in nearby Bellevue and Redmond work for catering company Lavish Roots. Last year, more than 60% of them asked Lavish and Meta to respect workers’ rights to form a union with Unite Here Local 8. More than 5,000 of their peers across the country at Microsoft, Google, and various Meta offices used by other catering companies Indeed a union. But Lavish allegedly campaigned against the workers through meetings, flyers, text messages and emails, according to Unite Here organizing director Sarah Jacobson. It alleges that union supporters have been disciplined, monitored and subjected to new rules that make workplace communications more difficult.

While better wages are a big demand, immigration raids have also fueled organizing among Meta contractors. In collective bargaining agreements, unionized workers in cafeterias inside Microsoft, Google and other Meta offices have job protections as they try to renew work permits. Immigration hearings are considered excused leave. “They enjoy security and the ability to live freely,” Mbenge says of his counterparts at Microsoft. There are also procedures in place at other workplaces when ICE attempts to enter offices.

Workers say that’s a legitimate concern. They allege that on January 29, two agents wearing “DHS” clothing looking for a specific non-Microsoft employee working at the company’s headquarters in Redmond were turned away at the front desk in the Commons Building. Microsoft was unable to confirm that the visitors were law enforcement.