{"id":57940,"date":"2018-02-03T05:43:44","date_gmt":"2018-02-03T05:43:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=57940"},"modified":"2018-02-03T05:43:44","modified_gmt":"2018-02-03T05:43:44","slug":"ice-employment-crackdowns-haunt-bay-area-undocumented-immigrant-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/news\/ice-employment-crackdowns-haunt-bay-area-undocumented-immigrant-workers.html","title":{"rendered":"ICE employment crackdowns haunt Bay Area undocumented immigrant workers"},"content":{"rendered":"

ICE employment crackdowns haunt Bay Area undocumented immigrant workers<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Days after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents descended on dozens of Northern California businesses, labor leaders and immigration activists worry one of the largest rounds of workplace audits in years will cast even deeper fears across immigrant communities, pushing them further into the shadows.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some activists say undocumented immigrants have become hesitant to show up to work, and others have stopped showing up altogether. Nervous employers have been reaching out to attorneys and immigrant advocates to ask about their rights.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTaking away these people\u2019s humanity is a commonly-used tactic by ICE and unfortunately, it\u2019s very effective,\u201d said Maria Marroqu\u00edn, executive director of the Day Worker Center of Mountain View, which connects laborers with local contractors and employers. \u201cIt\u2019s a strategy to manipulate people and their emotions. It\u2019s embarrassing to be living in these times.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The audits targeted a mixture of businesses \u2014 restaurants, stores, factories and more \u2014 that are unrelated to each other, said ICE spokesman James Schwab Friday. But ICE officials did not reveal the names or the reason they zeroed in on 77 businesses in the San Jose, San Francisco and Sacramento regions this week to verify if their employees were legal U.S. workers.<\/span><\/p>\n

And several labor leaders, immigration attorneys and politicians on Friday said it was still a mystery to them. Armando Elenes, a United Farmworkers vice president, said a Central Valley citrus packing company received a notice. Others declined to reveal the names of targeted businesses, citing privacy issues and stressing ICE\u2019s action this week were merely audits \u2014 not proof that employers and their workers were breaking the law.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the so-called I-9 audits raised the volume of a growing feud between the Trump Administration and California, the country\u2019s first \u201csanctuary state,\u201d over immigration enforcement. Many Trump supporters and immigration hardliners applauded ICE\u2019s crackdown, saying it\u2019ll prevent businesses from sidestepping hardworking Americans that they say get overlooked for cheaper labor.<\/span><\/p>\n

Progressives for Immigration Reform, a Washington, D.C.-based organization fighting for more immigration restrictions, said it supports \u201csubstantial civil and criminal penalties for companies which repeatedly violate the law and hire illegal immigrants.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Though ICE routinely carries out workplace audits, Schwab said ICE Director Thomas Homan has ordered agents to step up the compliance checks. And the agency\u2019s numbers show that between October 2016 and September 2017 \u2014 including the first eight months of the Trump administration \u2014 ICE conducted 1,360 I-9 audits across the country. That\u2019s about 26 a week. This week, in Northern California alone, agents conducted almost three times that number.<\/span><\/p>\n

The major uptick comes weeks after Homan told Fox News that the agency will significantly increase enforcement across California and warned the Golden State to \u201chold on tight.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like they\u2019re retaliatory tactics and also that they are scare-mongering. It\u2019s repressive,\u201d said Ruth Silver Taube, a professor at the Santa Clara University School of Law who studies employment law. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty draconian,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, such workplace audits have plummeted since President Barack Obama\u2019s first term, when his administration was under attack from immigrant rights groups for its hardline on deportations. Under Obama, I-9 workplace audits peaked in the 2013 fiscal year at more than 3,100 audits before dropping by more than half in the following years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat who represents the San Jose area, said she thinks Homan \u201cis intending to incite fear\u201d with the audits.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think that makes for healthy communities and I really think Homan is out of control,\u201d she said. \u201cThe Trump administration has managed to politicize this to an extraordinary degree.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Lofgren said she has asked ICE for more information but the agency has declined to say anything more. She has not heard from individual businesses.<\/span><\/p>\n

When they serve the audits, agents with ICE\u2019s Homeland Security Investigations unit deliver the I-9 inspection notifications to a manager at the business. The business then has three days to provide documentation ensuring their workers are legally allowed to work in the U.S.<\/span><\/p>\n

If an employer isn\u2019t in compliance for technical reasons, ICE agents will work with them to fix any errors, Schwab said. But employers who aren\u2019t in compliance for other reasons may face criminal charges and fines and their workers may be arrested, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese (audits) are clearly attacking our communities,\u201d said Manuel De Paz, community development and education program director at East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, a non-profit group in Berkeley.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although he\u2019s not sure if deportations have necessarily increased with the Trump administration, the fear has, De Paz said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s the fear: to go to work, to go to school,\u201d De Paz said.<\/span><\/p>\n

California became the first \u201csanctuary state\u201d in the country Jan. 1 when it implemented Senate Bill 54, a far-reaching measure aimed at preventing law enforcement officers from helping to carry out Trump\u2019s promised crackdown on illegal immigration.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Friday, immigrant rights advocates were present to show their support for immigrant workers at a vigil outside ICE\u2019s office in San Francisco.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jon Rodney of California Immigrant Policy Center said employers should know their rights, and should not allow ICE into a non-public area of the business without a signed warrant by a judge. He also said employers should not take action against their employees, respond \u201cwith power not panic,\u201d and consult a trusted attorney.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNo amount of intimidation will silence our voices,\u201d Rodney said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Staff writer Angela Ruggiero contributed to this story.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0https:\/\/www.mercurynews.com\/2018\/02\/02\/ice-employment-crackdowns-haunt-bay-area-undocumented-immigrant-workers\/<\/span><\/p>\n

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