Tag: ICE raids

Undocumented Immigrant Students at Brooklyn College Form ‘DREAM Team’

A group of undocumented students have formed an advocacy group on campus to support each other and fight for passage of the DREAM Act.

Labor Secretary Outlines Policy Toward Immigrant Workers in the Gulf

On a visit to Louisiana, U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said the federal government plans to protect workers’ rights during the oil spill cleanup – regardless of their immigration status.

Amid Immigration Debate, a Crackdown in Arizona on Transporting Undocumented Migrants

FI2W’s Valeria Fernandez was a guest on PRI’s The Takeaway. She spoke about the impact of Thursday’s raids on shuttle van companies in Arizona, in which 47 people were arrested.

Workplace Immigration Enforcement Trampled On Workers' Rights, Report Says

Workplace raids by immigration authorities have “severely interfered with the protection of labor rights for immigrant workers,” according to a new report released Tuesday by labor organizations.

A July 27, 2008, pro-immigration reform march in Postville, Iowa, in support of workers at Agriproccessors plant - Photo: Prairie Robin/Flickr

A July 27, 2008, pro-immigration reform march in Postville, Iowa, in support of workers at Agriproccessors plant. (Photo: Prairie Robin/Flickr)

“The single-minded focus on immigration enforcement without regard to violations of workplace laws has enabled employers with rampant labor and employment violations to profit by employing workers who are terrified to complain about substandard wages, unsafe conditions, and lack of benefits, or to demand their right to bargain collectively,” reads the report prepared by the National Employment Law Project, the AFL-CIO, and the American Rights at Work Education Fund (click here for pdf).

The report comes as the Obama administration has continued many of the Bush-era enforcement policies, although work-site raids have been scaled back since the Democrats took over in January. Nevertheless, local police forces with immigration enforcement powers –like Maricopa County (Arizona) Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose federal contract was scaled back— had until recently continued to conduct these operations.

(more…)