Employer Sanctions Punish Workers

Employer sanctions should be repealed. Instead, labor law rules and employment law rights should be enforced. Whether or not they are motivated by economic gain or anti-union animus, the current firings that result from I-9 audits of employers who hire undocumented workers highlight larger questions of immigration enforcement policy.  Nativo López, director of the Hermandad Mex-icana Latinoamericana, a grassroots organizer who organized protests against the firings at Overhill Farms and American Apparel, puts it this way: “These workers have not only done nothing wrong, they’ve spent years making the company rich.  No one ever called company profits illegal, or says they should give them back to the workers.  So why are the workers called illegal?  Any immigration policy that says these workers have no right to work and feed their families is wrong and needs to be changed.”

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