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.