Raids don't fix anything.
Last night marked President Obama’s first Presidential Address which echoed his (inspiring) campaign promises of change, a brighter future, accountablilty and responsibility, and the capacity for every ordinary person to become extraordinary through actions and choice.
Ironically, the first worksite raid under the Obama administration also took place last night which painted an entirely different picture reminding me of the enormity of the challenge to reform immigration. In Bellingham, Washington, 126 workers including US Citizens were questioned and temporarily detained, while 28 primarily Mexican workers were chained and transported to a detention facility (three were released for humanitarian reasons) marking another enforecement-only action by ICE as the solution to unauthorized employment.
These enforcement only measures reflect a continuation of the same policies carried out under the Bush administration, and undermine Obama’s campaign promise as well as his demands for change presented during his presidential address. Addressing the issue of unauthorized workers through raids does not resolve the root of the issue. Immigration reform is ripe for review, and the enforcement-only solution is not an acceptable answer.
Tags: ICE Raids, worksite enforcement
The NYT published an editorial today about the Postville meat factory raid. In case you aren’t current on ICE raids, earlier this year the Immigration and Customs Enforcement branch of Department of Homeland Security conducted the largest on-site raid to find unauthorized foreign workers at the largest Kosher meat factory in the world. ICE arrested around 400 unauthorized workers, and instead of simply sending them back to their countries of origin (mostly Guatamala), 260 were “charged as serious criminals for using false Social Security numbers or residency papers, and most were sentenced to five months in prison.” No charges against the company for hiring unauthorized foreign workers were filed.
Each of these 260 individuals accepted criminal charges without understanding a) the legal system b) their options. Yes, these are people who were taking advantage of our system taking the luxurious job of underpaid and most probably exploited workers in a slaughterhouse in order to literally put food on the table back home. I am concerned that the ICE raids, and the subsequent criminal consequenses imposed by the US legal system on the unauthorized workers, demonstrate that the government holds poor, desperate, exploited human beings accountable for crimes committed by their wealthy corporate US employers in order to maximize profits by hiring “illegals” as cheap and disposable labor. I think ICE’s action, and the subsequent arrests and sentencing, reflects the position of our judicial system pretty clearly.
I am not suggesting that it is ok to enter the US and work without authorization. But I do believe we should remedy the problem in our immigration system, rather than allocating our resources in the criminal justice system to criminalize people who sneak in to make ends meet. Does an individual’s desire to feed his/her family, even at the risk of breaking the law, warrant more severe punishment than US Citizen employers and large corporations’ gross disregard for the law?
A more promising remedy: force (by threatening and enforcing crazy fines and criminal charges) large corporations to pay proper wages, hire responsibly, and encourage them to form coalitions so that it is easier to comply with the regulations when hiring employees. I’m still thinking and learning about real viable solutions.
Tags: i-9, ICE Raids, Postville