A Moratorium on Employer Sanctions

We need a moratorium on the enforcement of employer sanctions. The Obama administration’s new focus on employers to enforce employer sanctions laws (in contrast to the Bush ICE Age massive workplace raids and arrests of workers) may be politically necessary, however, the President and DHS Secretary Napolitano need to put together a task force or group to seriously study whether employer sanctions is the best method of achieving the goal of reducing undocumented immigration. Employer sanctions are what led to massive, inhumane raids in the wrong hands (e.g., the Bush administration and possibly future administrations) and also have resulted in discrimination against legal immigrants of color or those who may not speak English well.  Going down the e-verify road is unhelpful; every credible study has exposed its inaccuracy. Besides, e-verify distracts us from addressing the real challenges of the workplace and the reasons that migrant workers come here in the first place. It’s time to re-assess employer sanctions after the 23-year failed experiment that began as part of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.

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