On Labor Day, a common refrain for most Americans is talk of the last "official" weekend of summer, rather than an occasion to recognize and celebrate the contributions of workers.  This year, it's particularly poignant to consider the plight of workers who make significant contributions to our economy, yet are threatened by workplace raids, arbitrary neighborhood sweeps -- and the absence of a U.S. immigration policy that recognizes the importance of immigrant workers to our economy.

Luis is a case in point.  He came to the United States in the 1990s for a construction job and moved to Wisconsin in 2002. Luis married a U.S. citizen, started a family and paid his taxes.  Last year, he submitted to an ordinary background check as part of the standard process to obtain guardianship of his wife's 16-year-old brother. The check was clean, except for a 1997 deportation order that Luis was unaware of - he had attempted to legalize his status in the past but had been stymied by a fraudulent immigration attorney. 

Even though Luis' employer offered to sponsor his visa, the Department of Homeland Security deported Luis this summer following his detention in a county jail for two months.  Now, his wife is the sole caretaker for the couple's two children and her brother.  His employer has lost a reliable employee who had served the company for four years.

Because Congress failed to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill in June, immigrants have been subjected to an ever-tightening noose around them. Today, work raids and neighborhood sweeps occur all too regularly, sometimes facilitated by local law enforcement, thereby causing tension between immigrant communities and the police officers who are responsible for protecting them. In addition, the fees families must pay to obtain permanent residency or citizenship have soared, making it impossible for many immigrant workers to establish themselves as full members of U.S. society. Tightened regulations instructing employers how to handle discrepancies on workers' social security cards may encourage employers to dismiss valued employees - many of whom are immigrants - unnecessarily.  The "noose" may be tightened even further if the Department of Homeland Security's latest proposed regulation, requiring 750,000 long-time permanent U.S. residents to pay large fees to renew their green cards, is approved. Making matters worse, press reports this summer have shown that more than 60 people have died in immigration detention in recent years, even as the number of immigrants detained by the Department of Homeland Security has swelled.

In the whirlwind of enforcement actions, many lawmakers have forgotten that most of our country's newest immigrants are here to do jobs American businesses desperately need filled - the same jobs that many Americans do not want.

Reports by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show that job growth in industries requiring a low level of formal education - such as food service, hospitality, and construction - will increase. As President Bush said in 2004, "some of the jobs being generated in America's growing economy are jobs American citizens are not filling."  And in June, U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez called the worker shortage acute for low-skilled jobs, warning of a "very detrimental impact to the economy" if this shortage is left uncorrected.

Most immigrants who come to the United States come to work and pose no danger to society.  They, like all of us, want to pursue the American dream. Tearing families apart and jailing men and women - fathers and mothers -- who may have entered the country unlawfully but have otherwise been valuable members of our communities and workforce is contrary to American ideals of justice and fairness. Justifying sweeping enforcement activities and a bulging federal detention budget by labeling valued workers like Luis a "threat to society" is shameful any day - but particularly on Labor Day.