Immigrants' Rights Update

Immigrants' Rights Update Index
Immigrants’ Rights Update Volume 21, Issue 6 \| July 20, 2007
IN THIS ISSUE
Detention Issues Immigration Detention Centers under the Microscope: Recent Reports Reveal Widespread Violations of the National Detention Standards
Employment Eligibility Verification Issues New Arizona Law Requires Employers to Use Flawed Employment Eligibility Verification Basic Pilot ICE Conducted I-9 Audit to Help Employer Retaliate against Workers 9th Circuit: Workers May Be Granted Unpaid Leave to Resolve Employment Authorization Problems
Workers’ Rights Employer That Knowingly Violated I-9 Requirement Ordered to Pay “Back Pay”
Supplemental Security Income House Passes Supplemental Security Income Extension for Humanitarian Immigrants
New on NILC’s Website (since June 21, 2007) Facts About Federal Preemption: How to analyze whether state and local initiatives are an unlawful attempt to enforce federal immigration law or regulate immigration Immigrant Eligibility for Disaster Assistance: Fact sheet prepared by NILC, National Council of La Raza, and the American Red Cross 6th National Low-Income Immigrant Rights Conference: December 6-8, 2007 Senate Immigration Reform Bill: NILC Statement on the Thursday, June 28, Cloture Vote U.S. Immigration Detention System: Substandard Conditions of Confinement and Ineffective Oversight Refugee Roulette: Disparities in Asylum Adjudication Testimony of DREAM Students before the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law, May 18, 2007 2005 American Community Survey and Census Data on the Foreign Born by State Immigration's Economic Impact The Basic Pilot Program: Not a Magic Bullet Testimony of Tyler Moran before the House Committee on Ways and Means, Subcommittee on Social Security, Hearing on Employment Eligibility Verification Systems, June 7, 2007 Employment Verification: Challenges Exist in Implementing a Mandatory Electronic Verification System Overview of Immigrant Eligibility for Federal Programs Guide to Immigrant Eligibility for Federal Programs: 3 updated tables
Detention Issues
	Immigration Detention Centers under the Microscope: Recent Reports Reveal Widespread Violations of the National Detention Standards
	By Karen Tumlin, NILC Skadden Fellow Over the last several months, independent reports have focused public attention on the substandard conditions immigrants face while detained by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Although ICE has national detention standards outlining basic requirements for immigration detention, they are not legally enforceable, unlike the comparable rules for criminal detainees. As a result, over 230,000 immigrants who are detained each year may be unable to win meritorious cases for relief from removal, such as asylum, because of the tremendous obstacles posed by detention, including lack of access to phones, counsel, and basic legal materials. Recent reports have highlighted system-wide problems with detainees’ access to phones and medical treatment. [Read more.]
Employment Eligibility Verification Issues
	New Arizona Law Requires Employers to Use Flawed Employment Eligibility Verification Basic Pilot
	By Tyler Moran, Employment Policy Director The Legal Arizona Workers Act (HB 2779), which Gov. Janet Napolitano signed into law on July 2, requires every employer in Arizona to use the federal Basic Pilot program to verify the employment eligibility of all new hires and creates state penalties for employers who “knowingly” or “intentionally” employ undocumented non–U.S. citizens. In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the governor noted Congress’s failure to move on comprehensive immigration reform and stated that “one of the practical effects of this failure is that Arizona, and states across the nation, must now address this escalating problem on their own.” [Read more.]
	ICE Conducted I-9 Audit to Help Employer Retaliate against Workers
	By Monica Guizar, Employment Policy Attorney A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) audit this past spring of an Emeryville, California, hotel was initiated after the hotel’s management contacted the hotel owner’s congressperson, who then wrote to the head of ICE asking that the agency investigate the immigration status of hotel employees. For about a year, workers at the Woodfin Suite Hotel had been organizing to enforce a local living wage ordinance, and they had sued the hotel for failing to pay the living wage. Hotel management had retaliated by requesting that the Social Security Administration (SSA) verify whether the workers’ Social Security numbers (SSNs) matched SSA’s records and firing those workers whose SSNs did not match. The management also threatened to contact immigration authorities. [Read more.]
	9th Circuit: Workers May Be Granted Unpaid Leave to Resolve Employment Authorization Problems
	By Monica Guizar, Employment Policy Attorney The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that the “employer sanctions” provision of federal immigration law (which was added by the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, or IRCA) does not preempt California’s wrongful termination law, which provides for remedies to workers who have been terminated in violation of an express or implied contract that they will not be discharged without good cause. Perhaps more importantly, the court found that IRCA does not bar employers from granting workers unpaid leave to resolve employment authorization problems. [Read more.]
Workers’ Rights
	Employer That Knowingly Violated I-9 Requirement Ordered to Pay “Back Pay”
	By Monica Guizar, Employment Policy Attorney (REVISED June 12, 2008) An administrative law judge (ALJ) in New York has ordered a back pay award to seven workers who had been fired by their employer, Mezonos Maven Bakery, for engaging in concerted activity by complaining together about their supervisor’s behavior towards them. Some of the seven workers had been employed by Mezonos for nearly 10 years. During this time, the employer had not asked some of them to provide employment authorization documents and had never completed I-9 employment eligibility verification forms for any of them. [Read more.]
Supplemental Security Income
	House Passes Supplemental Security Income Extension for Humanitarian Immigrants
	By Tanya Broder, Public Benefits Policy Director The week of July 9, the U.S. House of Representatives passed HR 2608, the SSI Extension for Elderly and Disabled Refugees Act, on a voice vote. Representatives Jim McDermott (D-WA), Jerry Weller (R-IL), Phil English (R-PA), Pete Stark (D-CA), and Xavier Becerra (D-CA) spoke eloquently about the persecution, injustice, and torture from which refugees flee, as well as the hardships they face in the U.S. They noted that this bipartisan bill, urged by faith-based, immigrant rights, and anti-poverty groups across the country, also received support from the Social Security Administration. [Read more.]
New on NILC’s Website (since June 21, 2007)
Featured Items
	■ Facts About Federal Preemption (Local Law Enforcement Issues page). “. . . Almost all of the proposed state and local initiatives are preempted by the federal government's exclusive authority to regulate immigration and are therefore unconstitutional. “This fact sheet explains general preemption principles and provides immigrant rights advocates with analytical tools for determining whether anti-immigrant initiatives proposed in their states and localities can be legally challenged on preemption grounds.” >> www.nilc.org/immlawpolicy/LocalLaw/federalpreemptionfacts_2007-06-28.pdf ■ Immigrant Eligibility for Disaster Assistance (Community Education page). Fact sheet prepared by NILC, National Council of La Raza, and the American Red Cross. Translations in Chinese, Korean, Spanish, and Vietnamese forthcoming. >> www.nilc.org/ce/nilc/disasterassist_immeligibility_2007-06.pdf
Low-Income Immigrant Rights Conference
	■ 6th National Low-Income Immigrant Rights Conference: December 6-8, 2007 (6th National Conference: December 6-8, 2007 information page). Who are the conference conveners? The conference information page now lists the organizations that are serving as co-conveners and provides links to their websites. >> www.nilc.org/dc-conference2007.htm
Immigration and Detention Issues
	■ Senate Immigration Reform Bill: NILC Statement on the Thursday, June 28, Cloture Vote (Comprehensive Immigration Reform page). “We are extremely distressed by the course of events leading to the 46-53 defeat of comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate this morning. Not because we supported passage of the bill under debate -- we did not -- but because the state of discourse over immigration and the choices given to the American people have become so poor. . . .” >> www.nilc.org/immlawpolicy/CIR/cir028.htm ■ U.S. Immigration Detention System: Substandard Conditions of Confinement and Ineffective Oversight (Arrest and Detention page). “The U.S. government has failed to promulgate binding minimum standards for the conditions of confinement for detained immigrants. In addition, it has failed to ensure that detention facilities comply with the nonbinding standards that exist. . . .” >> www.nilc.org/immlawpolicy/arrestdet/UNspecialrapporteur_ presentation_2007-05-03.pdf ■ Refugee Roulette: Disparities in Asylum Adjudication (Asylum, Refugee, and Other Protected Statuses page). By Jaya Ramji-Nogales, Andrew Schoenholtz, and Philip G. Schrag, Stanford Law Review, Vol. 60, 2008, available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=983946. From the abstract: "The analysis reveals significant disparities in grant rates, even when different adjudicators in the same office each considered large numbers of applications from nationals of the same country. In many cases, the most important moment in an asylum case is the instant in which a clerk randomly assigns an application to a particular asylum officer or immigration judge." (See also: Julia Preston, "Big Disparities in Judging of Asylum Cases," New York Times, May 31, 2007.) >> http://ssrn.com/abstract=983946 ■ Testimony of DREAM Students before the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law, May 18, 2007 (Immigrant Student Adjustment / DREAM Act page). Testimony of Marie Nazareth Gonzalez (Westminster College, Class of 2009); Martine Mwanj Kalaw (Hamilton College, Class of 2003; The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, Class of 2004); Tam Tran (University of California, Los Angeles, Class of 2006). Read the transcripts or watch the hearing on RealPlayer. >> www.nilc.org/immlawpolicy/DREAM/index.htm#stories ■ 2005 American Community Survey and Census Data on the Foreign Born by State (Immigration Law & Policy Index page). On the Migration Policy Institute website. State-specific fact sheets about the demographic & social, language & education, workforce, and income & poverty characteristics of the foreign-born population. >> www.migrationinformation.org/datahub/acscensus.cfm ■ Immigration's Economic Impact (Immigration Law & Policy Index page). Paper issued by the U.S. president's Council of Economic Advisors, June 20, 2007. >> www.whitehouse.gov/cea/cea_immigration_062007.html
Employment Issues
	■ The Basic Pilot Program: Not a Magic Bullet (Employment Eligibility Verification and Antidiscrimination Protections page). >> [ Superceded by "E-Verify: Not a Magic Bullet," www.nilc.org/immsemplymnt/ircaempverif/e-verify_nomagicbullet_2007-09-17.pdf ] ■ Testimony of Tyler Moran before the House Committee on Ways and Means, Subcommittee on Social Security, Hearing on Employment Eligibility Verification Systems, June 7, 2007 (Employment Eligibility Verification and Antidiscrimination Protections page). “My testimony today will focus on (1) the limitations of the current electronic employment verification system — the Basic Pilot program — upon which most proposed EEVS are based; (2) a summary of the impact of a flawed EEVS on the Social Security Administration (SSA) and on foreign-born workers; (3) an explanation of what provisions must be included in any mandatory EEVS; and (4) an analysis of the EEVS proposed in the 2007 House and Senate comprehensive immigration reform bills.” >> www.nilc.org/immsemplymnt/ircaempverif/eevs_House_testimony_ 2007-06-07.pdf ■ Employment Verification: Challenges Exist in Implementing a Mandatory Electronic Verification System (Employment Eligibility Verification and Antidiscrimination Protections page). U.S. Govt. Accountability Office Testimony before the Subcommittee on Social Security, Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, Statement of Richard M. Stana, Director Homeland Security and Justice Issues, GAO, June 7, 2007. >> www.gao.gov/new.items/d07924t.pdf
Public Benefits Issues
	■ Overview of Immigrant Eligibility for Federal Programs (Immigrants and Public Benefits page). Previously published article, updated July 2007. >> www.nilc.org/immspbs/special/overview_immeligfedprograms_ 2007-07.pdf ■ Guide to Immigrant Eligibility for Federal Programs: 3 updated tables (Guide Update page). ¶ Pages 122-23 \| TABLE 10: State-Funded Medical Assistance Programs >> www.nilc.org/pubs/guideupdates/tbl10_state-med-asst_2007-07.pdf ¶ Pages 126-27 \| TABLE 11: State-Funded SCHIP Programs >> www.nilc.org/pubs/guideupdates/tbl11_state-SCHIP_2007-07.pdf ¶ Pages 134-35 \| TABLE 12: State-Funded Food Assistance Programs >> www.nilc.org/pubs/guideupdates/tbl12_statefood_2005-10_7-07.pdf