Latest news with #ImmigrationReformandControlAct
San Francisco Chronicle
06-08-2025
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Court orders UC system to rethink policy against hiring undocumented students
The University of California is discriminating against students who are undocumented immigrants by refusing to hire most of them for campus jobs unless they have work authorization from the federal government, a state appeals court ruled Tuesday. UC offers employment to the small number of immigrants who were brought to the United States as children and have legal status under the program known as Deferred Access to Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. But the university has a longstanding policy of denying jobs to other undocumented migrants who lack federal work permits, saying it is unwilling to risk potentially costly legal actions by U.S. officials. A suit by undocumented students, supported by labor organizations, was dismissed by the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco last October but reinstated by the state Supreme Court, which told the appellate court to reconsider the case. On Tuesday, the court said UC's policy 'discriminates based on immigration status' and may violate California's employment law. 'The university abused its discretion by relying on an improper justification for continued application of its facially discriminatory policy,' Justice Jeremy Goldman wrote in the 3-0 ruling. The court did not require UC to change its policies immediately, however, ordering it only to rethink its current ban and comply with state law. California law bars employment discrimination based on immigration status. Legislation that explicitly would have prohibited policies like those at UC and other state universities, AB2586 by Assembly Member David Alvarez, D-San Diego, was approved by state lawmakers last year but vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, who said it could lead to 'criminal and civil liability for state employees.' A 1986 federal law, the Immigration Reform and Control Act or IRCA, prohibits employers from knowingly hiring unauthorized immigrants, but does not refer to state employers or specify whether they are covered by the ban. While UC has cited the possibility of federal enforcement to justify its unwillingness to hire undocumented students, the court said Tuesday that the university has refused to specify whether it believes it is covered by IRCA. The students and their supporters argued that the federal law does not apply to the university or other state institutions. 'The policy is unlawful under FEHA (California's Fair Employment and Housing Act) unless federal law requires it, and neither the University nor anyone else has argued to us that it does,' Goldman said. 'Without more, there is no basis for us to hold that the risk of federal prosecution alone justifies continuing it.' Lawyers for the university and the students were not immediately available for comment.
Miami Herald
18-06-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Will employers be targeted for hiring undocumented workers?
Federal authorities have arrested hundreds of potentially undocumented immigrants in Los Angeles this month, targeting day laborers at a Home Depot, factory workers at a downtown apparel company and cleaners at car washes across the city. But the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents aren't going after the business owners who may have illegally hired these workers. President Trump's crackdown on immigration has spared small and large U.S. employers that rely on thousands of undocumented employees, even though hiring undocumented workers can be a criminal offense. "There are some instances of criminal prosecutions of people for knowingly hiring unauthorized workers, but it is extremely rare," said Ahilan Arulanantham, co-director of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the UCLA School of Law. "There's not an appetite for that kind of enforcement." Instead, the recent raids have affected rank and file workers, most of whom were detained suddenly and face deportation. Here's what experts say about whom ICE targets and why: Who relies on undocumented labor? Laborers without legal authorization to live and work in the U.S. make up a significant portion of the workforce, especially in industries such as agriculture and hospitality, said Jean Reisz, co-director of the USC Gould School of Law Immigration Clinic. At least half of California's 900,000 farmworkers are thought to be undocumented, The Los Angeles Times reported last year. The state is home to more immigrants than anywhere else in the country, a portion of which don't have documentation, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. "The U.S. has always relied on immigrant labor, and has always relied on undocumented immigrant labor," Reisz said. "That's just a reality, and when you have these big enforcement actions, there's always going to be some tension." Last week, Trump acknowledged on his social media platform Truth Social that his immigration policies were harming farmers, hotels and restaurants. Shortly after, he temporarily paused raids on those businesses in a likely effort to keep company leaders in his corner. Targeting the employers themselves, some of whom Trump relies on for support, would be counterproductive to his agenda, Reisz said. "If the administration were to say they're going to come down on every business owner who has hired someone in violation of U.S. law, I think that would politically be a bad decision," she said. What consequences could employers face? Although it's not regularly enforced, a 1986 federal law made it a crime to knowingly hire someone without authorization to work in the country. Before that, a stipulation known as the Texas Proviso created a loophole that gave a pass to employers to hire noncitizens. Violating the Immigration Reform and Control Act could mean fines and even incarceration, depending on the number of violations, Arulanantham said. But violators are rarely prosecuted. "There's a very long history of immigration enforcement agents not pursuing employers for hiring undocumented people, but very aggressively pursuing the undocumented people themselves," Arulanantham said. "Most employers get zero consequence, not even a minor criminal conviction." While it's unlawful to work in the U.S. without documentation, doing so isn't a criminal offense. "Civil consequences can be far more severe than criminal consequences," Arulanantham said. "Especially if you're being deported after you've lived here for a long time and you're going to be separated from your family." "Even if the law were actually enforced against these employers, it still wouldn't give them consequences that are as draconian and harsh as the consequences that flow to the workers," he said. How can employers tell who's authorized to work in the U.S.? Previous reporting by The Los Angeles Times suggests that many businesses in California turn a blind eye when it comes to signing on undocumented workers. A federal program called E-Verify makes it easy for employers to validate the status of potential hires and ensure they aren't unknowingly employing someone without proper authorization. But the program is widely underused, especially in California, where only about 16% of employers are enrolled. Participation in the program is voluntary for everyone except federal contractors and other businesses that receive money from the government, Reisz said. The program is largely ignored because many companies are dependent on undocumented laborers and don't want to be forced to reject their services. Employers told The Los Angeles Times last year that requiring the use of E-Verify would devastate their businesses, unless other overhauls to immigration policy allowed them access to more workers. Why aren't employers facing consequences? Historically, it's been in the country's best economic interest to allow undocumented labor, experts say. There are not enough workers to fill all the jobs a healthy, growing U.S. economy generates, especially in low-wage industries. Workers who fear deportation are less likely to organize to demand better conditions or wages, said Arulanantham. It wouldn't make sense for Trump to arrest the business owners he wants as allies, Reisz said, and wouldn't align with his stance on immigration. "It doesn't fit the narrative to penalize employers," Reisz said. "The narrative surrounding immigration enforcement under the Trump administration is that there are dangerous criminals coming across the border and taking our jobs." Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Los Angeles Times
18-06-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Will employers be targeted for hiring undocumented workers?
Federal authorities have arrested hundreds of potentially undocumented immigrants in Los Angeles this month, targeting day laborers at a Home Depot, factory workers at a downtown apparel company and cleaners at car washes across the city. But the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents aren't going after the business owners who may have illegally hired these workers. President Trump's crackdown on immigration has spared small and large U.S. employers that rely on thousands of undocumented employees, even though hiring undocumented workers can be a criminal offense. 'There are some instances of criminal prosecutions of people for knowingly hiring unauthorized workers, but it is extremely rare,' said Ahilan Arulanantham, co-director of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the UCLA School of Law. 'There's not an appetite for that kind of enforcement.' Instead, the recent raids have affected rank and file workers, most of whom were detained suddenly and face deportation. Here's what experts say about whom ICE targets and why: Laborers without legal authorization to live and work in the U.S. make up a significant portion of the workforce, especially in industries such as agriculture and hospitality, said Jean Reisz, co-director of the USC Gould School of Law Immigration Clinic. At least half of California's 900,000 farmworkers are thought to be undocumented, The Times reported last year. The state is home to more immigrants than anywhere else in the country, a portion of which don't have documentation, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. 'The U.S. has always relied on immigrant labor, and has always relied on undocumented immigrant labor,' Reisz said. 'That's just a reality, and when you have these big enforcement actions, there's always going to be some tension.' Last week, Trump acknowledged on his social media platform Truth Social that his immigration policies were harming farmers, hotels and restaurants. Shortly after, he temporarily paused raids on those businesses in a likely effort to keep company leaders in his corner. Targeting the employers themselves, some of whom Trump relies on for support, would be counterproductive to his agenda, Reisz said. 'If the administration were to say they're going to come down on every business owner who has hired someone in violation of U.S. law, I think that would politically be a bad decision,' she said. Although it's not regularly enforced, a 1986 federal law made it a crime to knowingly hire someone without authorization to work in the country. Before that, a stipulation known as the Texas Proviso created a loophole that gave a pass to employers to hire noncitizens. Violating the Immigration Reform and Control Act could mean fines and even incarceration, depending on the number of violations, Arulanantham said. But violators are rarely prosecuted. 'There's a very long history of immigration enforcement agents not pursuing employers for hiring undocumented people, but very aggressively pursuing the undocumented people themselves,' Arulanantham said. 'Most employers get zero consequence, not even a minor criminal conviction.' While it's unlawful to work in the U.S. without documentation, doing so isn't a criminal offense. 'Civil consequences can be far more severe than criminal consequences,' Arulanantham said. 'Especially if you're being deported after you've lived here for a long time and you're going to be separated from your family.' 'Even if the law were actually enforced against these employers, it still wouldn't give them consequences that are as draconian and harsh as the consequences that flow to the workers,' he said. Previous reporting by The Times suggests that many businesses in California turn a blind eye when it comes to signing on undocumented workers. A federal program called E-Verify makes it easy for employers to validate the status of potential hires and ensure they aren't unknowingly employing someone without proper authorization. But the program is widely underused, especially in California, where only about 16% of employers are enrolled. Participation in the program is voluntary for everyone except federal contractors and other businesses that receive money from the government, Reisz said. The program is largely ignored because many companies are dependent on undocumented laborers and don't want to be forced to reject their services. Employers told The Times last year that requiring the use of E-Verify would devastate their businesses, unless other overhauls to immigration policy allowed them access to more workers. Historically, it's been in the country's best economic interest to allow undocumented labor, experts say. There are not enough workers to fill all the jobs a healthy, growing U.S. economy generates, especially in low-wage industries. Workers who fear deportation are less likely to organize to demand better conditions or wages, said Arulanantham. It wouldn't make sense for Trump to arrest the business owners he wants as allies, Reisz said, and wouldn't align with his stance on immigration. 'It doesn't fit the narrative to penalize employers,' Reisz said. 'The narrative surrounding immigration enforcement under the Trump administration is that there are dangerous criminals coming across the border and taking our jobs.'
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Today in Chicago History: Tribune reporters among last American journalists to leave Vietnam after Saigon falls
Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on April 30, according to the Tribune's archives. Is an important event missing from this date? Email us. Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago) High temperature: 91 degrees (1942) Low temperature: 30 degrees (1873) Precipitation: 2.22 inches (2003) Snowfall: 0.1 inches (1907) 1922: Pitcher Charlie Robertson threw the first perfect game for the Chicago White Sox. 1926: Aviatrix Bessie Coleman died while practicing for a performance in Jacksonville, Florida. Her Jenny aircraft turned over, dropping Coleman out of the aircraft at about 2,000 feet. She plummeted to the ground and died. That road O'Hare is on? It's named for Bessie Coleman, who 100 years ago became the first Black woman pilot in America Funerals were held for Coleman in Jacksonville, Orlando and Chicago, where 2,000 people crowded Pilgrim Baptist Church on May 7, 1926. Coleman was buried in Lincoln Cemetery, and for several years, pilots dropped floral tributes to her from the sky. Bessie Coleman Drive at O'Hare International Airport is named in her honor and a postage stamp featuring her image was released in 1995. 1975: Tribune correspondents Ronald Yates — who was one of the last American journalists to leave Phnom Penh when the Cambodian capital fell to insurgents just weeks earlier — and Philip Caputo lost contact with the newspaper in South Vietnam just before Saigon was overtaken by communist North Vietnam. 'April 29, 1975, is a day I will never forget, not only because I wasn't sure if I would get out of Vietnam in one piece but because I still consider it one of the greatest betrayals in American history – the disastrous and shameful exodus from Afghanistan in 2021 notwithstanding,' Yates recalled in his blog about the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon. Yates and Caputo had been evacuated via helicopter, then delivered to the vessel off the South Vietnamese coast and taken to the Philippines. Yates' first story post-evacuation was about the 'confusion and uncertainty' in the American embassy's last days in Saigon. 1987: Less than 1 ½ years after overseeing raids on taxi drivers in the U.S. illegally, Chicago district director for immigration services A.D. Moyer detailed plans to open four centers to help immigrants with paperwork to become legal U.S. residents. The effort was part of the Immigration Reform and Control Act, a law passed by Congress and signed by President Ronald Reagan to offer a path to legal residence for people in the U.S. illegally since Jan. 1, 1982. 2007: Lisa Stebic, mother of two, was last seen by her husband Craig Stebic. That same day, her divorce attorney sent her papers to have her husband evicted from the home they shared in Plainfield, though Craig Stebic said he knew nothing about that. The next day, she was reported missing by Craig Stebic. There were massive searches, billboards, hotlines, rewards, and television appearances. Then former WMAQ-Ch. 5 reporter Amy Jacobson accepted an invitation to speak with Craig Stebic and swim with him and his kids at the Stebics' backyard pool. Lisa Stebic has not been found. Though no one has ever been officially declared a suspect, investigators said then that they consider Craig Stebic the sole person of interest in the case. He has not been charged. 2015: President Barack Obama selected Chicago as the site of his library and museum. The presidential center is under construction in Jackson Park and slated to open in 2026. Also in 2015: Chicago hosted the NFL draft for the first time since December 1963. With the No. 7 pick in the first round, the Chicago Bears selected West Virginia wide receiver Kevin White. 2021: Arlington Park opened for its last season. The horse track closed its gates on Sept. 25, 2021. The Chicago Bears finalized a deal to buy the site in February 2023. 2022: Dinkel's Bakery, open since 1922 and owned by three generations of the Dinkel family, who made countless cakes to celebrate and grieve over the decades, closed at 3329 N. Lincoln Ave. Vintage Chicago Tribune: Shuttered local bakeries where we wish we could shop this holiday season Subscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with Today in Chicago History and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago's past. Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Kori Rumore and Marianne Mather at krumore@ and mmather@
Chicago Tribune
30-04-2025
- Climate
- Chicago Tribune
Today in Chicago History: Tribune reporters among last American journalists to leave Vietnam after Saigon falls
Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on April 30, according to the Tribune's archives. Is an important event missing from this date? Email us. Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago) High temperature: 91 degrees (1942) Low temperature: 30 degrees (1873) Precipitation: 2.22 inches (2003) Snowfall: 0.1 inches (1907) 1922: Pitcher Charlie Robertson threw the first perfect game for the Chicago White Sox. 1926: Aviatrix Bessie Coleman died while practicing for a performance in Jacksonville, Florida. Her Jenny aircraft turned over, dropping Coleman out of the aircraft at about 2,000 feet. She plummeted to the ground and died. Funerals were held for Coleman in Jacksonville, Orlando and Chicago, where 2,000 people crowded Pilgrim Baptist Church on May 7, 1926. Coleman was buried in Lincoln Cemetery, and for several years, pilots dropped floral tributes to her from the sky. Bessie Coleman Drive at O'Hare International Airport is named in her honor and a postage stamp featuring her image was released in 1995. 1975: Tribune correspondents Ronald Yates — who was one of the last American journalists to leave Phnom Penh when the Cambodian capital fell to insurgents just weeks earlier — and Philip Caputo lost contact with the newspaper in South Vietnam just before Saigon was overtaken by communist North Vietnam. 'April 29, 1975, is a day I will never forget, not only because I wasn't sure if I would get out of Vietnam in one piece but because I still consider it one of the greatest betrayals in American history – the disastrous and shameful exodus from Afghanistan in 2021 notwithstanding,' Yates recalled in his blog about the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon. Yates and Caputo had been evacuated via helicopter, then delivered to the vessel off the South Vietnamese coast and taken to the Philippines. Yates' first story post-evacuation was about the 'confusion and uncertainty' in the American embassy's last days in Saigon. 1987: Less than 1 ½ years after overseeing raids on taxi drivers in the U.S. illegally, Chicago district director for immigration services A.D. Moyer detailed plans to open four centers to help immigrants with paperwork to become legal U.S. residents. The effort was part of the Immigration Reform and Control Act, a law passed by Congress and signed by President Ronald Reagan to offer a path to legal residence for people in the U.S. illegally since Jan. 1, 1982. 2007: Lisa Stebic, mother of two, was last seen by her husband Craig Stebic. That same day, her divorce attorney sent her papers to have her husband evicted from the home they shared in Plainfield, though Craig Stebic said he knew nothing about that. The next day, she was reported missing by Craig Stebic. There were massive searches, billboards, hotlines, rewards, and television appearances. Then former WMAQ-Ch. 5 reporter Amy Jacobson accepted an invitation to speak with Craig Stebic and swim with him and his kids at the Stebics' backyard pool. Lisa Stebic has not been found. Though no one has ever been officially declared a suspect, investigators said then that they consider Craig Stebic the sole person of interest in the case. He has not been charged. 2015: President Barack Obama selected Chicago as the site of his library and museum. The presidential center is under construction in Jackson Park and slated to open in 2026. Also in 2015: Chicago hosted the NFL draft for the first time since December 1963. With the No. 7 pick in the first round, the Chicago Bears selected West Virginia wide receiver Kevin White. 2021: Arlington Park opened for its last season. The horse track closed its gates on Sept. 25, 2021. The Chicago Bears finalized a deal to buy the site in February 2023. 2022: Dinkel's Bakery, open since 1922 and owned by three generations of the Dinkel family, who made countless cakes to celebrate and grieve over the decades, closed at 3329 N. Lincoln Ave. Want more vintage Chicago?
