HR: Immigrant Employees
The American Apparel Company in Los Angeles, CA is firing 1800 immigrant employees. The employees that are being fired were unable to resolve the discrepancies that investigators discovered in their hiring documents and in their federal social security or immigrant records. The firings came about as a result of efforts by the government to reduce illegal immigrants by forcing employers to dismiss unauthorized workers rather than by using workplace raids.
This past year, The Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) opened audits of employment records at 654 companies around the country. The audits cover all types of businesses that employ immigrant workers. The goal is create a national deterrent to hiring unauthorized labor.
These audits and firings have many people scratching their heads? Many believe that firing employees won't make our country safer and certainly won't help the economy. Many don't understand why the government would go after well respected employers, especially at a time of high unemployment? Further arguing that these actions have the potential to be damaging to the economy, as immigrants won't actually leave the country but instead will go underground where taxes go unpaid and workers are exploited.
Others believe that regardless of the harm it might inflict on the economy, the fact is hiring "illegal" immigrants is just that---- illegal. Shouldn't these jobs go to the immigrant workers who have entered the country and secured employment legally? How about citizens of the United States- shouldn't they have a shot at these jobs as well?
Isn't it time to come up with a policy that will change the practices of American employers? A policy that stops forcing employers to act as the Immigration Police? Isn't a plan that eliminates the incentives for employers to hire illegal's past due? A plan that makes people responsible for their actions and supports the economy as well? Not an easy task- I know. Maybe the place to start is by building on the current administration's philosophy of allowing undocumented immigrants, who aren't criminals, the opportunity to: pay a fine, learn the English language and stand in line to become a US citizen.