New Worksite Enforcement Policy a Step in the Right Direction
NIJC Urges Further Progress, Full Protection to Ensure Immigrant Workers' Rights
Statement of
Mary Meg McCarthy, Executive Director
Heartland Alliance's National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC)
CHICAGO - May 1, 2009 - President Barack Obama supports a new approach to immigration enforcement that does not solely target low-wage, undocumented workers but instead addresses the economic realities that drive irregular migration. On April 29, President Obama's 100th day in office, the administration announced its first steps to fix what President Obama called a "broken" system.
Heartland Alliance's National Immigrant Justice Center applauds this announcement, which underscores President Obama's commitment to pursue immigration reform in 2009. Additionally, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano announced a shift in the orientation of the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) worksite enforcement operations, directing agents to pursue employers who egregiously violate labor and immigration laws and to base worksite raids on investigative work and reliable evidence. Yet the administration said it would continue to arrest workers "as part of an effort to build criminal and civil cases against employers," according to The New York Times.
For the DHS Worksite Enforcement Policy to be representative of American ideals of fairness and justice, further progress and full protections are required to ensure immigrant workers' rights. Specifically, it is incumbent on the government to provide legal protections to ensure the due process and human rights of immigrant workers, regardless of the nature of their arrest.
For example, federal prosecutors and DHS agents must give immigrants who are criminally charged access to both public defenders and immigration attorneys. Immigrants charged with civil immigration violations, such as expired visas, must be provided legal orientation presentations and access to immigration attorneys.
Secretary Napolitano's guidelines also expand the application of a humanitarian protocol used in worksite raids where workers are arrested on immigration charges. The protocol requires the release of immigrants who are sole care givers to children, pregnant, nursing, or have other compelling needs for release. While the Bush administration applied the humanitarian protocol to actions in which 150 or more individuals were arrested, Secretary Napolitano will now implement the protocols whenever 25 or more individuals are taken into custody.
This expanded application of the humanitarian protocol is a step in the right direction, but there is more work ahead. Ensuring basic human rights and justice should not be determined by the number of individuals arrested in a raid. We encourage Secretary Napolitano to apply the humanitarian protocol to include other vulnerable populations, and to apply it to anyone arrested in a worksite raid, regardless of the raid's scope.
Resources:
DHS Fact Sheet on New Worksite Enforcement Strategy, April 30, 2009: http://www.ice.gov/doclib/pi/news/factsheets/worksite_strategy.pdf
Transcript of President Obama's 100th Day Press Briefing, April 29, 2009: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/29/us/politics/29text-obama.html
About Heartland Alliance's National Immigrant Justice Center:
Heartland Alliance's National Immigrant Justice Center provides direct legal services to and advocates for immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers through policy reform, impact litigation, and public education.