Today, workers, along with immigrant and civil rights advocates, exposed evidence of a disturbing and dangerous attack on workers' rights by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE). Testimony in the case David et al. v. Signal et al. has revealed that high level executives of defense contractor Signal International worked closely with ICE and the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) to quash organizing efforts by courageous workers from India who were allegedly caught in a human trafficking ring.
The case should be alarming to all workers, because an attack on the rights of any group of workers puts all workers' rights at risk.
Lured by the chance to pursue the American dream, hundreds of workers from India were recruited in 2006 to work at Signal as part of a post-Hurricane Katrina reconstruction effort. These men, welders and pipe fitters, paid fees averaging $20,000 apiece to labor recruiters, who had promised them permanent jobs and green cards. When the workers arrived in the United States, they were subjected to horrific conditions in what Signal called "man camps," and tethered to Signal by short-sighted immigration laws. Under the current guest worker visa program, workers who enter the U.S. on temporary employment-based visas are bound to the sponsoring employer and become undocumented if they are fired or quit their job--even if they do so to escape exploitation.
Refusing to suffer in silence, the workers organized a campaign to assert their rights. Signal, instead of negotiating with workers to address their issues, sought guidance from ICE on how to deport workers who were causing "unrest." An ICE official advised Signal to "take [the Indians] out of line on their way to work, get their personal belongings, get them in a van...and send them back to India." According to the workers, Signal held a pre-dawn raid against its employees in March 2007. The deposition transcripts indicate that for the next two years, ICE met repeatedly with Signal and developed a plan for Signal to share information with ICE so that ICE could "send a message to the remaining workers that it is not in their best interests to try and 'push' the system."
In 2008, former Signal workers showed their faith in the American legal system by writing to the Department of Justice, stating that they had been victims of human trafficking and labor abuses, and asking the department to conduct a criminal investigation.
Our justice system is based on the belief that workers who allege abuse will receive a fair and impartial investigation. The Signal workers were denied this fundamental right. The evidence of collusion between ICE and Signal shows that ICE has a flagrant disregard for the rights of immigrant workers, which casts serious doubt on the agency's ability to effectively enforce federal immigration law. As a result of ICE's interference, the workers' ability to remain in the U.S. even long enough to plead their cases is in jeopardy.
The Obama administration must act swiftly to undo the harms caused by ICE under the previous administration and ensure that the current investigations proceed with full impartiality. The immigration and border patrol agents implicated in the case should be held accountable for their actions and violations. The Department of Homeland Security must sign a strong Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Labor, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and other labor and employment agencies to prevent ICE and CBP from interfering in labor disputes.
Finally, Congress should hold oversight hearings to determine whether the disturbing evidence obtained in this lawsuit reflect an isolated case, or whether this is one of many examples of ICE interference in labor disputes. Congress must do more than simply wag its finger at ICE. Elected officials should hold the agency accountable for its actions and put protections in place to ensure that this abuse of authority does not happen again. Protecting labor laws for the most vulnerable workers keeps standards high for all workers. America deserves a justice system that is free and fair for all of its residents, not only a select few.
This country was supposed to be the “free world”, a place where anyone could come and practice their religions and beliefs freely. Do not forget America, that at one point you were the undocumented alien and that this land was stolen from its natives by your ancestors. Do not forget that if it were not for African Americans, we would not have the wonderful country we have today. Remember that if you truly get rid of all of the people who cook your food, make your bed, take care of your children, garden your lavish homes and wash your clothes, you will no longer be the powerhouse that you are.
Those of you against immigration reform are the same ones who reap the benefits everyday when you go out to eat for lunch or dinner and your cook and/or bus boy are undocumented or even when you stay at a 5 star hotel and housekeeping is undocumented. You turn a blind eye at that point but then think that you have every right to litigate what their destiny should be.
For those of you whose argument is that undocumented immigrants should be sent back home because it is illegal… Well guess what? What was done to this group of Indian immigrants was also illegal.
We have all been fighting the war on immigration, immigrants and racism forever and I just want to bring something to light. Who do you think runs the corporations exploiting these immigrants? It is those who have been fighting against immigration reform. Why do you think that Signal went to Indian and got men from there to work here? Because there is not one person who has argued that immigrants are stealing their jobs who would actually do these jobs. They pay them less and abuse them physically, emotionally and verbally. (see continued)
We need a national ID card. All immigrants should be advised that they have 60 days to go get a card, which would include fingerprints and a photo. After that, any employer can hire that person without fear that they are not legally allowed to work.
The truth is that the people who support illegal immigrants have fought hard against a national ID program on a variety of weak claims that it might not be completely accurate. It certainly would be better than the system we have now where contractors hire truckloads of illegal immigrants brought here by coyotes, exploited, victimized, living underground. A national ID card would allow everyone who is legally entitled to work to live in the open without fear of discrimination. It would prevent illegal immigrants from taking jobs in this country, which would undoubtedly cause many of them to leave. Which would be a good thing.
Then we should halt immigration until our unemployment rate drops to 3%. Nobody should be allowed to move here from another country and take an American's job unless we already are close to full-employment of our citizens.
Good for these workers for organizing against another contract made by a corporation without morals. Sure glad they are considered citizens!
And this season, we may see brown as the new black.
"take [the Indians] out”
Or ice ICE instead?
The Union should have picketed every work site that employed imported workers if American workers were available to do the jobs.
And don't start telling me to move. I've looked into it; construction unions have frozen membership everywhere I looked. They can't take care of their own people with no building going on.
THAT is NO way to build a union! So who do you think the remaining workers thank for that wage increase? The UNION? Hell they are fighting against keeping illegals out and want them to stay and KEEP wages low! The union officials have more faith in the company being able to keep getting around the law than they do in forcing the company to increase wages. It is a travesty to call it a union with that kind of policy.
To protect them against forced labor, in unsafe conditions, at substandard pay, and deplorable housing was (and is) the correct thing for the Union to do. The Companies involved were the parties in the wrong, and they alone should be punished.
The workers should be returned whole and healthy to their homes, and the guilty parties should be punished.
ICE did a wonderful job when they raided the Swift plant in Denver and caught all the illegals working there. The remaining LEGAL American workers got a $3/hr wage increase when Swift needed to replace them with Americans. THAT is how to increase labor standards. It works and the UNION did NOTHING to get that increase at all. I know that the union hacks were really pissed off at being shown up for being incompetents and do nothings.
The FACT is that the national union is AGAINST such raids too. I hardly think that will make the workers better union members when they see that.