Antonio Vanegas worked for 3 years at the Ronald Reagan Federal Building in Washington, DC. He frequently worked close to 70 hours per week, and earning $6.50 per hour with no overtime pay. Antonio decided to join Good Jobs Nation, a campaign of workers in federal buildings standing up for respect on the job and asking President Obama to take executive action and guarantee that federal contractors pay their workforce a living wage. On May 21st, Antonio joined 150 workers from federal buildings all across DC on a one-day strike.

That same day, Antonio testified in front of members of Congress about his pay and working conditions. A few days after returning to work, he was detained by the Federal Protective Service and was told there was a problem with his ID—the same ID he had used the previous three years. FPS turned him over to ICE, and he was detained for 4 days. Antonio has an immigration hearing in August. He and his co-workers took his detention as retaliation for speaking out and he wants to let everyone that workers are not taking injustice, anymore. That’s why he is joining the hunger strike and asking the President to stop the deportations of hard-working immigrants.