|
|
|
Immigrants’ Rights Update
Volume 21, Issue 3 |
April 25, 2007 |
|
IN THIS ISSUE
|
|
Driver’s
Licenses & REAL ID
|
|
Immigrants’ Rights Litigation
|
|
Workers’
Rights Issues
|
|
Workers’
Rights Litigation
|
|
New on
NILC’s Website (since Mar. 29, 2007)
|
|
Driver’s Licenses & REAL ID |
|
|
Anti-REAL ID Measures Enacted in Five States So Far |
|
|
By
Tyler Moran, Employment Policy Director
Since the government of Maine passed a
resolution in January 2007 to
reject implementation of the
REAL ID Act, four states have followed Maine’s lead by opting out of
REAL ID, placing conditions on their participation in the law, or urging
Congress to repeal it. In addition to Maine, states that have passed REAL
ID legislation include Arkansas, Idaho, Montana, and Washington.
[Read more.]
|
|
Immigrants’ Rights Litigation |
|
|
Louisiana Courts Dismiss Charges Under Law Prohibiting Driving without
Lawful Presence, Citing Preemption and Enforcement Problems |
|
|
By Melissa Crow, Gulf
Coast Policy Attorney
In Dec. 2006, the Louisiana Fourth
Circuit Court of Appeal issued a landmark ruling affirming a lower court
decision that threw out criminal charges against a man who had been charged
under a Louisiana statute, LSA-R.S. 14:100.13, which makes it a felony for
“alien students” and “nonresident aliens” to drive a vehicle without
documentation demonstrating that their presence in the United States is
lawful. The Fourth Circuit has jurisdiction over much of the greater New
Orleans area — Orleans, St. Bernard, and Plaquemines Parishes.
Violators of the statute, which was
enacted in 2002, face up to a year in jail, a fine of $1,000, or both.
Through contacts with public defenders’ offices in Louisiana, as well as
with private lawyers, immigrant rights advocates, and individuals charged
with driving without lawful presence (“DWLP”), NILC has monitored the
enforcement of the statute over the past approximately eight months.
Existing evidence, including numerous police reports, strongly suggests that
some police officers throughout the state are using the statute as a pretext
to specifically target Latinos when the officers make traffic stops and
arrests — to decide whom to stop based on whether or not they “look”
Latino. Many of those who have been stopped and arrested under the statute
are Latinos who migrated to the New Orleans area to perform post–Hurricane
Katrina cleanup and reconstruction jobs.
[Read more.]
|
|
Workers’ Rights Issues |
|
|
Photo Screening Tool for Employment Eligibility Verification Likely to
Increase Discrimination |
|
|
By
Joan Friedland, Immigration
Policy Director,
and
Tyler Moran, Employment Policy Director
A three-month “Photo Screening Tool Pilot
Program” begun this past March by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
(USCIS) will likely lead to increased discrimination against lawful
immigrants and possibly even naturalized U.S. citizens, since it makes
certain non–U.S. citizen workers subject to an employment eligibility
verification procedure that does not apply to other workers. Forty
employers that already participate in the automated Basic Pilot employment
eligibility verification program are trying out the new photo screening
tool. The 40 employers account for over 400 hiring sites. The Basic Pilot
is the voluntary system currently used by about 15,000 employers throughout
the United States. (For more information about the Basic Pilot, see NILC’s
Basic Information Brief: DHS Basic Pilot Program.)
[Read more.]
|
|
|
Denying Immigrants Labor Rights Impacts All U.S. Workers Negatively, House
Staffers Told |
|
|
By
Tyler Moran, Employment Policy Director
In a Capitol Hill briefing organized
by NILC for staff from the U.S. House of Representatives, presenters
described how immigration law, in its current state, undermines the rights
and the economic stability of all workers in the United States by making
some workers particularly easy to exploit. The presenters showed how the
conditions of all workers deteriorate as a result of “race to the bottom”
competition and the undermining of opportunities for workers to act
collectively to improve their working conditions.
[Read more.]
|
|
Workers’ Rights Litigation |
|
|
California Appeals Court Holds that Immigration Status is Irrelevant to
Claims for Unpaid Prevailing Wages |
|
|
By
Karen Tumlin, NILC Skadden
Fellow
In a precedent-setting decision, the
California Court of Appeals recently held that immigration status is
irrelevant to claims for unpaid prevailing wages. Reyes v. Van Elk, Ltd.,
148 Cal. App. 4th 604 (2007). Under California law, prevailing wages
are the minimum wage for public works contracts. The plaintiffs are
construction workers who performed welding work for the defendant, Van Elk
Limited. While Van Elk paid the plaintiffs some wages for this work,
they were not paid the required prevailing wage. The plaintiffs filed
suit in a California superior court for the difference between what they
were paid and the rate they were entitled to be paid.
[Read more.]
|
|
|
Kansas Supreme Court Upholds Undocumented Workers’ Rights to Enforce
Employment Contracts |
|
|
By
Karen Tumlin, NILC Skadden Fellow
The Kansas Supreme Court has upheld
the rights of undocumented workers to hold their employers to employment
contracts into which they have entered, including oral contracts. The
plaintiff in the case was a cook for a Wichita fast food restaurant, Burrito
Express. The restaurant’s management had agreed to pay him $6 an hour but
did not make good on this promise. The plaintiff testified that he was paid
only $50 or $60 a week for up to 60 hours of work — resulting in a wage of
less than $1 an hour for many weeks. Throughout the proceedings, the
employer never contested this information. Instead, the employer claimed
that it did not need to pay the agreed-upon wage because the worker was
undocumented and therefore the underlying employment contract was invalid.
[Read more.]
|
|
New on NILC’s Website (since Mar. 29, 2007) |
|
|
■
Employment Eligibility
Verification System in the STRIVE Act of 2007 (STRIVE: Security Through
Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy) (Immigrant Worker Issues
in Comprehensive Immigration Reform page).
Table summarizing employment eligibility verification system
provisions in the recently introduced STRIVE Act, HR 1645.
www.nilc.org/immsemplymnt/cir/strive_eevs_2007-04-02.pdf
■
Electronic Employment Verification Systems and Comprehensive Immigration
Reform: Legislative Priorities (Immigrant Worker Issues
in Comprehensive Immigration Reform page).
Because the concept of an electronic employment eligibility
verification system enjoys almost universal support in Congress, and
therefore will almost certainly be incorporated into any comprehensive
immigration reform bill, it is crucial that any proposed EEVS be designed so
as to avoid negative consequences for workers, both immigrant and U.S.-born,
as well as businesses.
www.nilc.org/immsemplymnt/cir/eevs_legpriorities_2007-04-01.pdf
■
Drum Major Institute “Immigration and the Middle Class” Toolkit (Immigrant Worker Issues
in Comprehensive Immigration Reform page).
Based on DMI’s report, “Principles for an Immigration Policy to
Strengthen and Expand the American Middle Class: 2007 Edition.”
http://drummajorinstitute.org/immigration/
■
New
section added to CIR page: “Security Through Regularized Immigration and a
Vibrant Economy Act of 2007 (STRIVE Act) (HR 1645)” (Comprehensive Immigration
Reform page).
Link to new section:
www.nilc.org/immlawpolicy/CIR/index.htm#strive
■
Basic
Information Brief: DHS Basic Pilot Program
(revised
March 2007)
(Employment
Eligibility Verification and Antidiscrimination Protections page).
Background on the Employment Eligibility Verification Process and
the DHS Basic Pilot Program | How Does the Basic Pilot Program Actually
Work? | How Does the Basic Pilot Program Affect Immigrant Workers? | The
Future of the Basic Pilot | How Do Workers Ensure That Their Rights Are
Protected? | How Do Workers Contact USCIS to Better Understand the Basic
Pilot Program?
www.nilc.org/immsemplymnt/ircaempverif/basicpilot_infobrief_brief_
2007-03-21
■
2007 State
REAL ID Legislation
(updated
April 23, 2007) (Immigrants and Driver’s
Licenses page).
Table that lists and summarizes state REAL ID-related legislative
provisions.
www.nilc.org/immspbs/DLs/state_real_id_proposals_2007-04-23.pdf
■
Immigration Enforcement During Labor Disputes
(revised
April 2007)
(Immigrant
Workers’ Rights Resource Manual for Community and Labor Organizers
page).
Increased activity by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has
made the threat of immigration enforcement during a labor dispute very real
for immigrant workers. Employers looking to inhibit union organizing or to
retaliate against a worker who has filed a complaint concerning unpaid wages
or other violations use immigration enforcement as a means to accomplish
their objective. It therefore is critically important that immigration
enforcement does not undermine or become part of a labor dispute from the
onset.
www.nilc.org/immsemplymnt/IWR_Material/Advocate/labordispute_
infobrief_2007-04-23.pdf
■
Rights Regarding Immigration
Enforcement and Raids (Community Education Materials
page).
LINKS TO:
>> Know-your-rights video, produced by CHIRLA.
http://chirla.org/media/rights.mp4
>> brochure: Rights during
immigration raids (illustrated; produced by Detention Watch Network,
National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, and CASA of
Maryland).
www.nilc.org/ce/nonnilc/raidsrights_dwn&nlg&casa.pdf (English)
www.nilc.org/ce/nonnilc/redadas_dwn&nlg&casa.pdf (Spanish)
>> “Community Resource Kit: Information on ICE Enforcement, Detention, and
Deportation” (on the website of the National Immigration Project; contains
the following resource: “From Raids to Deportation: A Community Resource
Kit”).
www.nationalimmigrationproject.org/commresourcekit.html
>> “Community Raid Preparedness Checklist: Lessons Learned from New Bedford,
MA, and Marshalltown, IA” (Fair Immigration Reform Movement).
www.nilc.org/ce/nonnilc/raids_checklist_firm_2007-04.pdf
■ Comments on
Proposed USCIS Fee Increases (by the American Immigration Lawyers
Association)
(Obtaining Lawful
Permanent Resident Status page).
AILA InfoNet Doc. No. 07040264 (posted Apr. 2, 2007).
www.aila.org/content/fileviewer.aspx?docid=22008&linkid=158982
■ Story of a
DREAM Student: “Just One Thing Missing”
(Immigrant Student
Adjustment / DREAM Act page).
The story of a college student “with good grades, an excellent work
ethic, but no possible way to get a legal job. She’s lived in the U.S.
since she was little, but [is undocumented]. Most of her friends and
teachers don’t even know.” As reported by Douglas McGray, a fellow at the
New America Foundation, on the radio program “This American Life.” (Click
on the link below; then click on “Full Episode”; then fast-forward to minute
46:34.)
www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1182
■ Sponsored
Immigrants and Benefits
(Community Education Materials
page, “Affidavits of Support” section).
Because U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services has revamped its
website, some links included in our issue-related memos may have become
obsolete. Links in these two documents have been either updated or replaced
since March 29, 2007.
>> Sponsored Immigrants and Benefits (national version)
www.nilc.org/ce/nilc/sponsoredimms&bens_na_2006-07.pdf
>> Sponsored Immigrants and Benefits (California version)
www.nilc.org/ce/nonnilc/sponsoredimms&bens_ca_2006-10.pdf
■
Immigrant Children’s Health
Improvement Act–related (Immigrant Children's
Health Improvement Act (ICHIA) page).
LINKS TO:
>> List of organizations that have signed letter of support.
www.nilc.org/immspbs/cdev/ICHIA/ichia001.htm
>> “Reducing Disparities in Health Coverage for Legal Immigrant Children and
Pregnant Women,” by Leighton Ku, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities,
Apr. 20, 2007.
www.cbpp.org/4-20-07health2.htm
>> “Immigrant Children’s Health Improvement Act” web page of the National
Council of La Raza.
http://nclr.org/content/policy/detail/30216/
■
Newborns’
Eligibility for Medicaid (Immigrants and Public Benefits:
Verification and Reporting
page)
“All babies born in the United States whose deliveries are covered
by Medicaid may remain eligible . . . for Medicaid for up to a year after
their birth,” a press release issued Mar. 20 by the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services (CMS) admits. It indicates that CMS will soon issue a
revised rule retracting language included in the preamble to a July 2006
interim final rule, which stated an opinion that the U.S. citizen babies of
noncitizen women with emergency Medicaid should not be “deemed” eligible for
Medicaid, but instead must have a separate application submitted on their
behalf. (Posted 4/5/07.)
www.nilc.org/immspbs/vr/index.htm#ctznshp
|
|
|
|
|
