ICE has aggressively ramped up workplace
arrests in the past five years. Last
year, it charged 863 people with
criminal violations such as identity
theft and 4,077 for being in the country
undocumented. In 2002, it made 25
criminal and 485 immigration arrests.
"We fully respect the opinions of local
leaders and will continue to work with
them," agency spokeswoman Kelly Nantel
says. But she says ICE has a duty to
enforce immigration law "that we take
very seriously."
"Sometimes we find employers with their
undocumented workforce in deplorable,
substandard conditions, and that's not
acceptable," Nantel says. "Employers who
harbor undocumented aliens are
inherently mistreating those aliens for
their own financial gain.." She says ICE
refers suspected violations to state or
federal law enforcement agencies. Last
year, ICE was responsible for charges
against 92 employers.
Villaraigosa wants his colleagues to
adopt the resolution because "mayors all
over the country have to deal with the
consequences of a broken immigration
system," such as businesses taking a
severe economic hit if they're raided,
says spokeswoman Jazmin Ortega.
Mark Boughton, mayor of Danbury, Conn.,
also says the immigration system needs
fixing, but he believes communities
should help ICE enforce laws. He is a
member of the mayors conference but
won't attend the meeting.
"To encourage ICE not to enforce the law
is irresponsible and goes against good
public policy," he says.
If
raids continue, Villaraigosa says,
regional economies will suffer.
In
February, ICE raided Micro Solutions
Enterprises, a Van Nuys, Calif., company
that recycles printer cartridges,
arresting 138 suspected undocumented
immigrants out of about 700 workers at
that plant.
Chief financial officer Nitin Dhopade
says the company lost millions after the
raid because of reduced productivity,
fewer sales and customers, and increased
shipping costs to make up for delays.
He
says the effects will ripple into the
broader economy.
Barbara Coe, chairwoman of the
California Coalition for Immigration
Reform, which works to raise awareness
of undocumented immigration, counters
that raids don't hurt the economy,
undocumented immigrants do.
Some employers hire
undocumented immigrants instead of legal
workers so they can pay them lower
wages, she says. "Cheap labor is the
bottom line," she says. "There are
American workers who will fill those
jobs in a heartbeat."
