What Rights For The Undocumented?
Tactaquin, Cathi
UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS ARE PER-haps the most powerless of any group of workers in this country-a permanent feature of the much talked about "underclass" of U.S. society. Over the last 15...
...The anti-immigrant Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) argued that the proposed ordinance would "undermine the value of U.S...
...Ibid...
...In San Francisco, the city-sponsored Day Labor Program has yielded another important outgrowth: the Asociaci6n de Trabajadores Latinos-the Latino Workers Association...
...IRCA and employer sanctions have caused particular problems for undocumented immigrant women...
...3, 1992...
...The issue sparked considerable controversy around the country...
...They have also created an "Immigrant Rights Urgent Response Network" to coordinate efforts among local and national organizations to press for immediate action on critical issues of abuse...
...The settlement stems from a case filed 14 years ago on behalf of a Mexican citizen, Rosa Melchor L6pez, and several other immigrant workers who had been arrested in an INS raid at a Los Angeles shoe factory in 1978...
...When you broaden the electoral pool, everyone wins...
...HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF "UNOFFIcial" refugees are counted among the undocumented...
...economy...
...The City Council is to follow up with a binding ordinance...
...955-1042, and Robin Alexander, "Labor Rights Protections After IRCA," Immigration Newsletter, Vol...
...2 The impact of sanctions on the undocumented is even more severe...
...Particularly with the rise in unemployment, more and more citizens have joined the undocumented in search of any kind of work that offers a day's wage...
...The report recommended a token amnesty program for long-residing undocumented immigrants, employer sanctions, and major funding increases for border enforcement and for the creation of immigrant detention centers...
...In 1978, pledging to make a serious study of the immigration debate, President Carter created the Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy...
...In many cases, workers report that they are paid below the agreed-upon wage, or not at all...
...See General Accounting Office, "Immigration Reform: Employer Sanctions and the Question of Discrimination" (March 1990), and "Employer Sanctions-A Costly Experiment," a 1990 summary report of findings by immigration organizations (available from the Center for Immigrant Rights, 48 St...
...1. 4. In the case of EEOC & Castrej6n v. Tortillerfa "La Mejor," a federal judge ruled on March 6, 1991 that undocumented workers could file lawsuits under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act...
...The attacks on workplace rights due to IRCA have created an increased awareness in some parts of the labor movement about the importance and complexity of organizing immigrant workers...
...Numerous legal and political campaigns-waged by community groups, labor unions, immigrant and refugee rights advocates, civil rights and religious organizations, and even local governments-have managed to ameliorate some of the more repressive aspects of laws and policies pertaining to people without legal status...
...Castrej6n, a Mexican immigrant, wanted to file a pregnancy discrimination suit against her employer...
...Border Patrol agent tions enforcement...
...These elements formed the basis of sweeping immigration legislation introduced the following year by Republican Sen...
...Employers contact the organizations for referrals, pay the workers directly, and make a donation to the organization for overhead costs...
...Of course the impact of IRCA on undocumented rights also reaches beyond the workplace...
...Others have responded more sympathetically, working with unions and cities to create day-labor hiring halls and programs that provide language training and "know-your-rights" outreach...
...But they also fear deportation if they have no papers, or if their legal status is tied to remaining in a valid marriage for a minimum of two years...
...Perhaps, as many now believe, nothing less than the repeal of employer sanctions will prevent further deterioration of rights...
...Because work-permit verification (required by IRCA of all employees hired after November 6, 1986) is not required for people who work "irregularly," "sporadically" or on an "intermittent basis," employers of day labor are generally not targets of eimiployer-sanLc- A U.S...
...v. Nelson, which will provide, in Northern California, some protection for immigrant and other minority workers against arbitrary workplace raids by the INS...
...For example, even though an estimated 70% of undocumented workers pay taxes, they are not eligible for most federal benefits...
...20, 1990...
...economic and foreign policies which continue to spur all types of immigration, and of domestic policies which lead to greater impoverishment and restriction of rights...
...in contrast, 84% of 1987 asylum claims from antiSandinista Nicaraguans were approved...
...7 Guatemalans did not receive any deportation protection, but they, along with Salvadorans, also gained some relief through the settlement of a class action suit filed by the American Baptist Church in 1985...
...Expansion of undocumented rights has also been pursued in a number of other areas that are indicative of the integration of the undocumented into broader society...
...jobs for "Americans...
...A recent court settlement stipulates that undocumented immigrants in detention should be informed of their legal rights, and should have the opportunity to consult with a lawyer...
...Anti-immigrant The response to the erishment have further isol growing phenomenon of day labor has been mixed-in a number of cities, residents have organized to "get them out of the neighborhood," claiming the workers are a public nuisance...
...3, published by the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, 3108th St., Ste...
...This is really a civil rights challenge that's facing the next generation," George Leventhal, who headed the campaign, told the press...
...25Immigrati on A Immigration dent Reagan had made his own appointments to the commission...
...The fundamental premise that the undocumented were taking jobs away from U.S...
...Several organizations have sprung up around the country to address the particular needs of undocumented women...
...IRCA seems to have given added license to the Border Patrol and to racist hate groups to commit crimes against undocumented immigrants...
...Central Americans have found some safety from deportation through two programs...
...19, pp...
...A number of cases have been brought in which an employer challenged a worker's right to even file a claim because the worker was undocumented...
...Their hunger strikes and VOLUME XXVI, NUMBER I (JULY 1992) 5 E 'a 0 27R"ort on.t Amercas Immigration organizing campaigns have gained national attention, since they target some of the country's leading manufacturers who contract with local sweatshops at poverty wages...
...V, No...
...A great many undocumented are seasonal workers, here for a few months at a time...
...Manos, in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, providesjob placement for Latino immigrants...
...Romano Mazzoli...
...They claimed they were not allowed to talk to a lawyer, were forced to sign a waiver of their rights, and were to be deported...
...Because of IRCA, even access to those benefits and services for which they are eligible is constantly being challenged...
...They note that local voting by non-citizens was a common practice in the nineteenth century and into the twentieth...
...8 In the 1990 settlement, plaintiffs gained the right to have their cases re-examined under revised rules, and could get work authorization while their cases were pending...
...Ninety-seven percent had been denied...
...What Rights for the Undocumented...
...17, No...
...The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) obligingly initiated massive raids on immigrant communities, deporting hundreds of thousands of undocumented Mexicans and provoking a heated response from immigrants and their advocates...
...In some cities, the right of undocumented children to attend public schools has been questioned, even though this right was clearly established by the courts...
...The commission's report, "Immigration Policy and the National Interest," was released in 1981, after PresiVOLUME XXVI, NUMBER I (JULY 1992) Cathi Tactaquin is director of the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights in Oakland...
...Initially organized through the Diocese of Oakland in the mid-1980s, it has helped to launch similar projects in other areas and has grown to include two job-referral collectives, and home-care and janitorial cooperatives...
...While those wanting to restrict immigration often quote much higher figures, a number of experts agree that the undocumented population grows between 200,000 and 300,000 a year, about 40% of whom enter legally and overstay their visas...
...With the assistance of CIWA, the International Association of Machinists persuaded workers to unionize at an auto-racing equipment factory in Los Angeles last year-the biggest manufacturing election victory since 1964...
...Undocumented immigrants have also become part of the environmental movement,joining with other minority community activists to charge that "toxic racism" is responsible for an alarming rate of disabilities and fatalities from exposure to dangerous pesticides, waste dumps and incinerators...
...The California Immigrant Workers' Association (CIWA), launched as an associate member organization of the AFL-CIO in Los Angeles/ Orange County, seeks to organize immigrant workers, many of whom are undocumented...
...Plaintiffs in the case had claimed that the INS raided job sites and detained or arrested workers just because they looked Latino...
...1. Rodman Griffin, "Illegal Immigration," CQResearcher, Vol.2, No...
...An aggressive campaign by the Reagan Administration painted pictures of a "border out of control" and an invasion by "hordes of feet people" to prompt audiences once more to scapegoat "foreigners" for an unstable U.S...
...MANY UNDOCU- mented do not, however, have regular work, and are not affiliated with unions...
...8 and 13, published by the Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and Services, 995 Market Street, Suite 1108, San Francisco, CA 94103...
...While the courts seem to agree that claims may be filed, there is still considerable disagreement about whether reinstatement and/or back pay should be allowed as remedies in the case of an undocumented worker...
...Current public concern over the influx of undocumented immigrants dates from the post-Vietnam war recession of the 1970s, when politicians launched appeals to save U.S...
...The passage of IRCA significantly increased the REPORT ON THE AMERICASnumber of undocumented workers forced to stand on street comers advertising their services for the cheapest wage...
...Prior to the passage of IRCA, entering or remaining in the United States without immigration papers was illegal, but working without papers was not a crime...
...citizenship" and might create another "magnet" for unlawful immigration.i 0 Yet others favor the idea, citing numerous examples where non-citizens are permitted to vote in local elections (like New York's community school boards...
...Particularly in the Southwest, immigrant communities, including sizeable undocumented populations, have experienced "cancer clusters," babies born without brains or with other deformities, psychological changes, and fertility and reproduction problems which experts say can be largely traced to environmental hazards...
...At the same time, the undocumented have become increasingly adept at defending their rights both in the workplace and in the community at large...
...Various examples are discussed in Maria Blanco and Pauline Kim, "How Employer Sanctions Undermine the Enforcement of Federal Labor Laws," published by Equal Rights Advocates, 1663 Mission Street, Suite 550, San Francisco, CA 94103...
...For example, in Takoma Park, Maryland, the "Share-theVote" campaign resulted in a successful non-binding referendum providing non-citizens with the right to vote in local elections, and even to run for office...
...In the San Francisco Bay Area, there are a number of immigrant-based cooperatives, including "Heaven Sent," a housecleaning cooperative in East Palo Alto...
...7. See Interpreter Releases, Vol...
...In the suit, the plaintiffs claimed that foreign-policy biases, instead of the merit of individual cases, had resulted in the overwhelming denial of political-asylum petitions...
...Over the last 15 years, their rights have been under constant assault...
...4 After nine years of litigation, a settlement was finally reached last November in the case Pearl Meadow Mushroom Inc...
...Many and Salvadoran immid. grants...
...The number of local and national organizing efforts to protect and expand the rights of the undocumented have significantly increased over the last ten years...
...Marks Place, New York, NY 10003...
...After seeking support for safe-haven measures in Congress for several years, in 1990 Salvadorans gained "Temporary Protected Status" or TPS...
...Advocates have fought for a "battered women waiver" to the 1986 Immigrant Marriage Fraud Act, in order to provide immigrant women in abusive relationships an opportunity to gain legal status if they leave their battering spouses...
...Undocumented workers were considered employees with the same rights as other non-immigrant workers, a definition which was upheld in court.' The introduction of employer sanctions essentially redefined the labor rights of the undocumented, "criminalizing" workers without papers...
...San Francisco Examiner, May 4, 1991...
...La Mujer Obrera organizes immigrant women, including many who are undocumented, in the garment factories in El Paso...
...These measures include: local, state and federal investigation, monitoring, and prosecution of anti-immigrant activity...
...9. Quoted in Detroit News, Jan...
...The "ABC" settlement resulted in re-adjudication for over 150,000 political asylum cases that had been denied Salvadoran and Guatemalan applicants...
...reform of INS regulations governing the use of deadly force and instituting some form of civilian review of Border Patrol practices...
...Like other women, they may remain trapped in abusive relationships because they fear being unable to support themselves (and often their children...
...Farmworkers are especially vulnerable to pesticides, as are their children, who must often accompany parents in the fields.12 In the small Latino town of Kettleman City, in south-central California, residents fought one of the country's largest waste disposal and treatment companies, Chemical Waste Management, to block construction of a toxic waste incinerator...
...307, Oakland, CA 94607...
...They are also often exposed to poor or hazardous working conditions...
...Alan Simpson and Democratic Rep...
...The member-run organization provides mutual assistance, organizes know-your-rights presentations, and has even agreed to seek a minimum wage of $6.25 an hour...
...5 que bridge...
...Occasionally, these battles have even resulted in an expansion of the limited rights of the undocumented...
...69, No...
...workers continued to frame the immigration debate...
...6. For more information on programs in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, see Network News, Vol...
...Community activists and immigrant and refugee rights advocates are lobbying for a variety of measures to protect basic human rights...
...and an end to Border Patrol highspeed chases of suspected undocumented immigrants in the border area, which have resulted in numerous fatalities in recent years...
...Gerald M. Rosberg, "Aliens and Equal Protection: Why Not the Right to Vote...
...Many studies since have found that large numbers of employers fearing the "employer sanctions" provision of IRCA, which imposes civil and criminal penalties on those who continuously hire undocumented workers, will discriminate against those who appear or sound "foreign" to them-namely, racial minorities and the foreign born...
...Mujeres Unidas y Activas in San Francisco, for example, conducts know-your-rights outreach, offers leadership training, language classes and domestic violence counseling, and serves as a support network for immigrant women...
...Among these are refugees from turbulent political situations and civil war who have not been granted official refugee status...
...checks the papers of a Mexican living under an Albuquerhype, broad attacks on civil rights, and growing impovated the undocumented...
...8. San Francisco Examiner, Dec...
...Throughout the U.S.-Mexico border area, harassment and physical violence have increased dramatically...
...3. For a fuller discussion of the legal and labor rights of the undocumented after IRCA, see Linda S. Bosniak, "Exclusion and Membership: The Dual Identity of the Undocumented Worker under United States Law," Wisconsin Law Review (1988), pp...
...6 Another form of "organized" casual labor is the "cooperative," in which members are essentially independent contractors, and do not have an employer/employee relationship with the person for whom they provide services...
...Michigan Law Review (April-May 1977...
...For instance, immigrants have been denied access to housing because they were suspected of being undocumented...
...Heaven Sent provides training and job referrals, and participants pay monthly dues...
...The workers at the plant month stay of deportation were alost all exima me country...
...Largely from Central America and Haiti, these people have escaped conditions of political turmoil and civil war only to be rejected by the United States...
...600-601...
...the employer claimed that IRCA's purpose would be undermined if she were entitled to file the suit...
...Although it sparked a fairly wide-ranging movement for immigrant and refugee rights, IRCA's passage was widely recognized as a major blow not only to the immigrant communities, but also to labor and civil rights...
...Anti-immigrant hype, restrictive immigration legislation, broad attacks on civil rights, and the worsening conditions of the poor have all served to further isolate the undocumented...
...2. Patterns of widespread discrimination have been found in both government and independent studies...
...President Bush recently announced that TPS participants would continue to enjoy that benefit for at least another year, although TPS is not being officially extended...
...5. "Alternative Employment Strategies for Immigrants and Refugees," pp...
...TPS provided an 18-month period of protection from deportation (and work authorization) for Salvadoran refugees who registered with the INS...
...Nonetheless, community and other immigrant rights advocates feel their efforts have not kept pace with the impact of U.S...
...some come and go at the beginning and end of the workweek...
...The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) became law in November 1986...
...Streetcorner" labor, in which immigrants and non-immigrants alike are hired by the day, is now commonplace in cities and towns across the United States...
...Most current assessments place the number of undocumented in the United States at somewhere between 2.5 and four million.' The number has always been hard to gauge, because this is a "shadow" population, often without the "official" recognition other residents take for granted...
Vol. 26 • July 1992 • No. 1
