Deferred Action for Labor Enforcement
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas
For decades, immigration enforcement has been weaponized as a tool to crush worker organizing. Employers routinely use threats based on immigration status to keep workers scared and silent, which undermines efforts to enforce basic labor and employment laws in our country.
This week in Las Vegas, LCLAA is uplifting stories of Latinx workers who continue to organize and fight despite these extreme risks--workers like Maria de Rosario in Georgia, who is fighting back in the aftermath of fatal workplace chemical exposure, and Rosario Ortiz in Nevada, who is demanding an end to rampant wage theft.
No worker should have to risk deportation for standing up to these egregious violations.
We are calling on the Department of Homeland Security to protect immigrant whistleblowers and workers who take action to enforce our labor laws. Join us by signing on now.
Specifically, we are calling on DHS to establish a clear and transparent process for workers who are engaged in labor standards enforcement to apply for and receive deferred action protections, including protection from removal and work authorization.
More than a decade ago, DHS entered into an agreement with the Department of Labor to set forth the ways in which the agencies would work together to ensure that their enforcement activities do not work at cross-purposes. DHS agreed that people engaged in legally protected labor activities should not face immigration enforcement risks. Particularly in the context of the pandemic, workers need those protections to be real and accessible, which is why we are calling on the agencies to act immediately.
An injury to one is an injury to all. Sign the petition to protect the rights of all workers to organize and stand up against abusive employers.
Sponsored by
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Additional Sponsors
To:
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas
From:
[Your Name]
Dear Secretary Mayorkas,
Building back better after the economic crisis caused by COVID 19 requires strong labor standards and concrete protections for the workers who help enforce those standards, including whistleblowers who participate in labor enforcement investigations.
Across the country, workers, many of whom are immigrants, are organizing to keep our workplaces safe and fair. Whether they are fighting against wage theft in Las Vegas, to prevent deadly working conditions in Gainesville, GA, or to address discrimination and other egregious violations in the wake of immigration raids in Mississippi, workers who stand up to severe labor violations need and deserve protection against threats and retaliation based on immigration status.
Along with the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, Arriba Las Vegas Worker Center, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, I am calling on the Department of Homeland Security to uphold the authority of federal state and local labor agencies by establishing a clear and transparent process to grant rapid protections and work authorization to all workers who participate in their investigations.
Until we ensure the right of undocumented workers to act collectively and report labor abuses, we will continue to see widespread violations that have a dangerous and negative impact for all workers. The Biden administration should take immediate steps to ensure that DHS enforcement strategies support efforts to build worker power and protect workplace rights and standards.
Sincerely,