Meta Café Workers Raise Funds to Free Colleague's Brother

When Abdoul Mbengue learned his brother had been detained by immigration authorities in December, he turned to the people who understood him best: his coworkers at a Meta café in Bellevue, Washington.

The dishwasher and his colleagues had made a pact months earlier. If immigration enforcement affected any one of them, they would rally together.

Mbengue's brother Serigne, an asylum seeker from Senegal, had come to the United States in 2023 to escape difficult circumstances back home. Now he faced an uncertain future in detention.

The cooks, dishwashers, and servers at the café known as Crashpad didn't hesitate. Many of them were also from Africa, the Caribbean, or Ukraine, navigating their own immigration cases while working long hours.

They launched a fundraising campaign to cover Serigne's legal defense. Word spread through group chats among tech workers at other major companies in the Seattle area.

A software engineer at Amazon contributed $100, then added $500 more after learning the full story. Thousands of dollars poured in from employees at Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon.

On February 24, a judge ordered Serigne's release. "He is back because of the efforts," Mbengue says through a translator.

The Ripple Effect

The success of this grassroots campaign is creating waves across the tech industry. More than 5,000 cafeteria workers at Microsoft, Google, and other Meta offices have already unionized, securing protections that include job security during work permit renewals and excused time off for immigration hearings.

Now the Bellevue café workers are pushing for the same rights. Over 60 percent have asked their employer, catering company Lavish Roots, and Meta to recognize their union with Unite Here Local 8.

Tech workers are discovering a new form of activism. While executives stay quiet on immigration policy, employees are stepping up with financial support and solidarity for the lower-wage workers who keep their offices running.

The four-hour organizing meeting in March drew activists from several tech companies. Microsoft employees attended alongside cafeteria workers, learning from those who had successfully mobilized to help one of their own.

"I choose to fight," Mbengue says about his decision to organize. "It was the only option after I learned about the union and what we could do together."

His brother's freedom stands as proof that workplace community can overcome seemingly impossible obstacles.