Workplace Raids Signal Shifting Tactics in Immigration Fight<br />“There was slightly more complacency when it was pretty well known<br />that there wasn’t a fear of being arrested in your workplace,” Mr. Riley said, nor much of a deterrent to “using fake documents to get a job.”<br />Mr. Renteria worries that if agents home in on the Napa area, no one will stay to harvest the grapes.<br />“The consequences are not that harsh, and the effect of the enforcement is less than it should be,” said Jessica M. Vaughan,<br />the director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates tighter restrictions on immigration.<br />Instead, according to law enforcement officials and experts with differing views of the immigration debate, a primary goal of such raids is to dissuade those working illegally from showing up for their jobs — and to warn prospective migrants<br />that even if they make it across the border, they may end up being captured at work.<br />“There are employers for whom the penalties are just the cost of doing business.”<br />The more lasting effect of raids is to spread fear among undocumented workers,<br />who often end up bearing the brunt of enforcement action at the workplace.<br />It’s causing people to distrust government agencies.”<br />Ms. Martinez helps people in the garment industry file claims for back pay with the state when their employers pay them less than they’re owed.<br />“Not only are we going to prosecute the employers who knowingly hire the illegal aliens, we are going to detain and remove the illegal alien workers.”<br />When agents raid workplaces, they often demand to see employees’ immigration documents and make arrests.
