"KQED Perspective: INS Undercuts Workplace Rights"
By LAS-ELC staff attorney Christopher Ho

To mark Labor Day, Senior Staff Attorney Christopher Ho read the following opinion piece on the "Perspectives" commentary series, broadcast by the San Francisco Bay Area public radio station KQED, on Monday, September 2, 2002.

This Labor Day, let's take a break from the barbeque to think about the laborers who are indispensable to the American economy -- immigrant workers, and, in particular, those who are undocumented. These millions of workers from all over the world take the low-wage jobs most of us don't want. Their willingness to work for little pay keeps our prices down, and our standard of living high.

But today, undocumented workers are caught in a Catch-22 that tests our country's basic notions of fairness. Take the case of Macan Singh. For the last 15 months, Mr. Singh was in INS custody because he committed an unpardonable sin: he asked to be paid for the thousands of hours he had worked, under horrific conditions. But he could be deported any day now, because after Mr. Singh dared to file a claim for the wages he was rightly owed, his outraged employer called the INS. That kind of retaliation is illegal, even if you happen to be undocumented. Mr. Singh finally won his release on bond last week, and the race is now on to tell his story in federal court, and have the retaliation case against his employer decided, before the INS whisks him out of the country.

If he's deported, his employer will have done what countless unscrupulous employers have done before -- avoid being held accountable for breaking U.S. workplace laws, simply by getting rid of the worker who complained. It's the perfect crime: the employer does away with its victim, with a helpful assist from the INS.

You don't have to wonder why most undocumented workers who aren't paid minimum wage, or are sexually harassed, or denied medical care after getting hurt on the job, never report those abuses -- even though the laws cover undocumented workers for the most part just like anybody else. Our immigration system must be brought in line with our workplace laws, instead of undermining them. By letting employers break virtually any labor law with impunity through the threat of deportation, we corrode the principles of justice we Americans say we are so proud of.

If our system of laws means anything, it must truly protect everyone equally. Until that happens, the meaning of Labor Day will be a hollow one.