Among the most disturbing patterns emerging in the Trump era is Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents stalking undocumented immigrants at courthouses, including targeting victims at a New York human trafficking court. The chief justices of the California Supreme Court, the Connecticut Supreme Court, the New Jersey Supreme Court, and the Rhode Island Supreme Court (so far) have all taken the extraordinary steps by condemning former Department of Homeland Security Sec. John Kelly and Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III for the actions, with California’s Tani Cantil-Sakauye writing that “we encourage the vulnerable to come to our courthouses for help. But immigration arrests, or the fear of arrests at or near courthouses, disrupt court activities and the lives of those seeking justice.”
Now ICE appears to be taking their thuggery to labor dispute proceedings in California:
Federal immigration agents have shown up twice at California labor dispute proceedings to apprehend undocumented workers, in what state officials believe may be cases of employer retaliation.
The Labor Commissioner’s Office, the state’s labor enforcement arm, said that since November U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents showed up at locations in Van Nuys and Santa Ana looking for workers who had brought claims against their employers.
In January, ICE also contacted a state official and asked for details about an ongoing investigation into labor violations at several construction sites across Los Angeles, according to Julie Su, the state’s labor commissioner and the agency’s head.
According to the Los Angeles Times, “generally the worker and employer are the only ones who know the [hearing schedule] information outside of the agency,” which most likely means that it’s the disgruntled employers who are illegally siccing ICE on workers who are reporting labor violations. And, much like Trump administration itself, these employers can use fear and abuse to their advantage, by sending the message to other employees that you will be deported if you even so much as think of reporting violations to the labor board. “This is consistent with what we have seen, where immigration agents have been going to places like courts,” said the ACLU’s Michael Kaufman. “ICE should not be used as a tool by employers to go after employees asserting their rights.”
It’s why California, home to over three million undocumented immigrants, is taking steps to freeze ICE out of the Labor Commissioner’s Office.
State officials sent a memo in July instructing staff members to refuse entry to ICE agents who visit its offices to apprehend immigrants who are in the country without authorization.
Staff members should ask federal immigration agents “to leave our office, including the waiting room, and inform the agent[s] that the labor commissioner does not consent to entry or search of any part of our office,” the memo said.
If agents refuse to leave, the memo tells employees, demand a search warrant signed by a judge before allowing them onto the premises.
“There is no doubt that allowing ICE to freely enter our office would have a substantial chilling effect on the willingness of workers to report violations and participate in our fight against wage theft,” he [labor commissioner Julie] Su said in an interview.
With many labor complaints coming from immigrant-rich industries like garment manufacturing, it’s an important step for the office to take. Already, even just the fear of deportation has had devastating effects when it comes to things like immigrants, regardless of immigration status, reporting when they’ve been victims of sexual assault and other crimes. In Houston, Police Chief Art Acevedo reported that the number of Latinos reporting rape is down nearly 43 percent from last year. This isn’t because Donald Trump’s policies are making America safe again, it’s because victims are afraid their immigration status will lead to their arrest.
