Firing of migrants spurs calls for Yale hospital to respond
- Immigrant rights group says the firing occurred in September
- Undocumented workers were reportedly let go by a subcontractor
- Group wants the hospital to meet with the fired workers
NEW HAVEN, CT – SEPTEMBER 27: Students walk through the campus of Yale University on the day the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee was holding hearings for testimony from Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh September 27, 2018 in New Haven, Connecticut. Blasey Ford, a professor at Palo Alto University and a research psychologist at the Stanford University School of Medicine, has accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her during a party in 1982 when they were high school students in suburban Maryland. (Photo by Yana Paskova/Getty Images)
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(NewsNation) — A New Haven, Connecticut-based advocacy group for immigrant workers and their families is calling on Yale New Haven Hospital to cut ties with a janitorial subcontractor after what they say was a mass firing of undocumented workers in September.
Former workers at that hospital allege that they showed up to work in September and were asked for immigration papers by a supervisor. They say people who couldn’t produce documentation were fired and there was also a threat to call immigration authorities.
In response, the advocacy group Unidad Latina en Acción held a protest outside the hospital. They called on the hospital to end its use of subcontractors such as AffinEco, which reportedly fired the workers, and rehire those who were let go.
“They used us all throughout the pandemic [as essential workers] and now, when we really need the jobs, is when they fire us,” said Armando Meza, a former employee of AffinEco who worked at the hospital.
ULA said they plan to hold weekly protests outside the hospital until it agrees to meet with the fired workers.
