California Labor Commissioner Julie Su instructed employees last month at the state’s labor offices to remove Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents from their premises. The decision put a halt to ICE’s ability to learn more about illegal immigrants based on labor disputes reported to the labor board.
From here on out, the only time labor office employees are to comply with ICE is if the agent has a warrant, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday night.
“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,” Su told the Times.
Su decided to put this measure in place after numerous illegal immigrants complained about employers threatening to contact ICE and have the employee deported if a claim was filed against the employer.
According to the Sacramento Bee, Su claimed that “the presence of immigration officers in state offices could disrupt the enforcement of labor laws by discouraging immigrant workers from reporting employers who short them on wages or unfairly punish them in other ways.”
The fear of deportation has many illegal immigrants no longer wanting to pursue their cases, Su said.
“It’s our job to prevent retaliation, not assist in it,” Su told the Sacramento Bee. “Our fundamental job is to make sure that there are strong workplace protections in every workplace in California. In California, the long-standing policy has been that immigration status is irrelevant to protections of California labor laws.”
When office employees ask ICE agents to leave, they are instructed to take down the agents’ contact information and contact a department attorney or executive.
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