Thread: Study: Immigration raids hurt workers' rights

Study: Immigration raids hurt workers' rights

Tuesday, November 3, 2009
BY CINDY CARCAMO
The Orange County Register

AFL-CIO chastises federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Immigration officials and anti-illegal immigration activists are responding to a union labor coalition's report that criticized immigration workplace enforcement actions that took place during the last presidential administration.

The report issued by the AFL-CIO blasted Immigration and Customs Enforcement workplace raids, saying they undermined efforts to protect workers' rights and negatively affected immigrant and native-born workers. The AFL-CIO's report and other groups contend that the workplace raids mostly penalized workers and not the employers.

"ICED OUT: How Immigration Enforcement Has Interfered with Workers' Rights" states that there is a growing body of research that points to a decline in workplace protections. It details how the dramatic increase in immigration enforcement agents, arrests and prosecutions of immigrants in the U.S. has reportedly taken precedence over labor law enforcement.

In Orange County, the most recent and public workplace enforcement action took place in February 2007, netting about 20 workers in Anaheim, Orange and Irvine at places including ESPN Zone, House of Blues, La Brea Bakery, and Dave and Busters.

In response, federal immigration officials this week emphasized the new administration's shift, focusing more on the criminal prosecution of employers who knowingly hire people who are working illegally in the country.

"In April, updated worksite enforcement guidance was distributed to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which reflects a renewed Department-wide focus targeting criminal aliens and employers who cultivate illegal workplaces by breaking the country's laws and knowingly hiring illegal workers," Department of Homeland Security spokesman Matthew Chandler said in a written statement.

"ICE focuses its resources in the worksite enforcement program on the criminal prosecution of employers who knowingly hire illegal workers in order to target the root cause of illegal immigration,'' he said.

The 2007 Orange County pre-dawn roundup was part of a national Immigration Customs Enforcement action at restaurants in 17 states. It resulted in the prosecution of executives at janitorial and grounds-keeping service Rosenbaum-Cunningham International (RCI), a Florida-based company that also operated in Michigan.

The prosecution of the employers was an anomaly compared to most cases, the AFL-CIO report contends.

"ICE's failure to uphold the firewall between enforcement of immigration laws and enforcement of labor laws has undercut both policies," Rebecca Smith of the National Employment Law Project, co-author of the report, said in a written statement.

"Employers have been encouraged to violate wage and hour laws, OSHA requirements, and labor laws that protect collective bargaining rights,'' she said. "All workers, both immigrant and native born, are suffering from depressed core labor standards as a result."

Steve Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies, contends that the immigration workplace enforcement actions have actually helped unions and native-born workers alike.

"There are clear cases where enforcement made life a lot better for native-born American and legal immigrants at work sites," said Camarota, whose organization is an anti-illegal immigration think tank that favors enforcement of immigration law.

"If you don't' enforce the law you make illegal immigrants attractive to employers and that puts native workers and legal immigrants at a distinct disadvantage because illegal workers will work for less or unsafe, unpleasant conditions,'' he said.

In particular, Camarota cited one of his colleagues' studies, which states that the January 2007 immigration workplace enforcement raid of the Smithfield pork plant in Tar Heel, N.C. led to the hiring of native-born American workers and legal immigrants. In addition, the report contends the raid was a key factor in the later successful creation of a union at the facility.

Camarota contends that immigrant workers – in the country legally and illegally – undermine unions.

"If your concern is low unionization and lack of benefits, and working conditions, if these are your concerns, having a large supply of workers -- legal or not -- is going to undermine those efforts," Camarota said. "A tight labor market is the best friend a union can have or a worker could have."

The AFL-CIO report highlighted case studies across the country -- in California, Texas, Kansas, Florida and Oregon -- examining a series of incidents between 2005 and 2008.

The report accuses Immigration and Customs Enforcement of the following:

•taking enforcement action at the behest of employers, their surrogates, and other police agencies;

•conducting immigration-focused surveillance in the midst of labor disputes;

•conducting enforcement action with full knowledge of an ongoing labor dispute;

•engaging in subterfuge to carry out enforcement actions; and

•directly interfering with the administration of justice by arresting workers on the courthouse steps.

Camarota said he agrees with the report on one point.

"It's fair to say that if you have selective enforcement of immigration laws it certainly can be problematic… in the context that if the law is not being applied uniformly then you open up the possibility that an employer will try to use enforcement against illegal immigrants who are attempting to organize and so forth,'' he said.

Contact the writer: ccarcamo@ocregister.com or 714-796-7924

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/enfo ... gal-report

As far as I'm concerned, illegals don't have any rights, except the right to leave and quit milking the system.They definitely know how to do that!

Workers' rights is when every American that wants to work can do so, without competition from low-paid illegals.

These unions groups will say anything to make it safe for their illegal alien members and the dues they bring in. Plus, they will use them to promote litigation, if they can. They were just as wrong about the Social Security "no match" letters---- but used that hsyteria as an effective way to hold up the implementation.

Obviously the AFL-CIO needs to change their name, they sure don't represent American workers any longer.

Maybe the International Federation of Labor would be more appropriate.

What rights? Illegal aliens have only 1 right, and that is to go home!