Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has launched a new kind of raid at workplaces – the virtual kind.
The NY Times reported over 1800 layoffs today at American Apparel in LA. ICE, through investigations beginning in July, has audited hundreds of businesses to identify and remove undocumented workers. In an improvement from Bush era practices of rounding up undocumented workers in workplace raids, the Obama Administration will impose or threaten the imposition of fines for employers that employ undocumented workers. No matter the improvement, though, the philosophy behind the practice is the same – identifying “illegal” immigrants using error-ridden databases, rounding them up, and then directing them into the shadows. While Obama should be applauded for not physically rounding up undocumented workers, this slight improvement in practice by no means addresses the conundrum of equal protection under the law for immigrants.
Reading the article, I was reminded of our recent advocacy on the mandatory use of E-Verify. E-Verify is a flawed federal database used to verify the authorization of a worker. Much like the American Apparel workers were run through flawed DHS databases, mandatory use of E-Verify would require US citizens to prove worker authorization to employers. For example, before I was hired at the ACLU of MAINE, Shenna would have run my social security number or other identifying information through the DHS databases to see if I was authorized to work. If for any reason I had been flagged as unauthorized, despite being a US citizen and born in the US, she could have chosen not to hire me. There is no recourse for individuals improperly fired or not hired because of errors in DHS databases. The article reminded me that it isn’t just undocumented workers that will be affected by these practices – it’s not far off that every American worker will feel the weight of flawed federal databases.
