New report from labor groups makes case for immigration reform

San Francisco Examiner
October 27, 2009
By Aurelia Fierros
America's Voice

PRESS RELEASE

Washington, DC – A report released today by leading labor organizations shows how the federal government's recent approach to workplace immigration enforcement has harmed efforts to protect both immigrant and native-born workers' rights while allowing unscrupulous employers to operate with near impunity.

Authored jointly by the American Federation of Labor - Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), American Rights at Work, and the National Employment Law Project, ICED Out: How Immigration Enforcement Has Interfered with Workers' Rights examines the Bush administration’s workplace immigration enforcement actions between 2006 and 2008 and describes in devastating detail the problems associated with prioritizing immigration enforcement over labor law enforcement. Though the report’s policy recommendations focus mostly on restoring a proper balance between immigration and labor law enforcement, the study also makes a persuasive case for comprehensive immigration reform and its benefits to all American workers.

The new report finds that “in recent years, with the rise of workplace raids and with more governmental agencies, such as state and local police, involved in immigration enforcement, the government has trampled on the labor rights of workersâ€