Federal immigration agents to end practice of worksite raids

[Ptah]

Source: KOLD TV Tucson

CHICAGO (AP) — Federal immigration agents will end mass workplace arrests of immigrant employees suspected of living in the U.S. without legal permission, according to a memo issued Tuesday by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Instead, the focus will shift to pursuing “unscrupulous employers who exploit the vulnerability of undocumented workers” and emphasize fighting worker abuse including paying substandard wages, unsafe working conditions and human trafficking.

The three-page memo directs the heads of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and Citizenship and Immigration Services to draw up a plan within two months to increase employer penalties, encourage workers to report unscrupulous practices without fear and coordinate with other agencies, such as the Department of Labor.

Mass worksite raids were common under former President Donald Trump, including a 2019 operation targeting Mississippi chicken plants, the largest such operation in over a decade. Trump and other Republican presidents defended raids as strong deterrents against illegal immigration, while workers groups called them unfair and discriminatory. For instance, most of the 680 worke

Read more: https://www.kold.com/2021/10/12/federal-immigration-agents-end-practice-worksite-raids/

[Mopar151]

1. About damm time!

We've been arresting and deporting the wrong people!

[MurrayDelph]

2. Now we get to see how this is accepted by

the Brown Shirts that make up the rank-and-file.

[Phoenix61]

3. If they really wanted to prevent people working

in the US who aren’t authorized to they would fine employers sufficiently that they wouldn’t take the chance.

[sybylla]

4. I have been saying the same for decades.

The punishment for dragging an immigrant into a job and working them like a slave rarely elicits more than a $1000 fine per employee - a sum that no where near covers the profit of labor trafficking. That's bullshit. The penalty for this needs to be in the high 10s of thousands per employee at a minimum.

[MichMan]

5. Sounds like they aren't going to prosecute it anymore except for isolated instances