By: Allen E. Kaye
Washington, DC – On Thursday,
the House Committee on Homeland Security will hold a hearing
with U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary
Michael Chertoff. Congressional leaders should demand answers
from Secretary Chertoff to the following questions:
Q: When Will the Administration Meet
Basic Human Needs In Our Immigration Jails?
A: Recent Congressional hearings and media
reports have made it clear that DHS still has not learned
its lesson following the Katrina recovery disaster: all
people have basic human needs that must be addressed. As
the Washington Post reported in May, internal government
documents show a “massive crisis in detainee medical
care" in the ICE-administered immigration detention
system, and many people have died or suffered as a result.
When will the Administration learn to prioritize all lives
– even those of immigrant detainees in deportation
proceedings—and provide them with basic medical care
to prevent needless suffering and deaths?
Q: When Will the Administration Stop
Coddling Employers Who Violate Immigration Laws?
A: Last year, Secretary Chertoff vowed to
end the Bush Administration’s coddling of employers
and bring the hammer down on law-breaking business owners.
Since then, relatively few have been convicted of violating
immigration laws, while hundreds of thousands of workers
have been deported. In 2007, DHS fined a grand total of
17 employers for breaking immigration laws, and less than
2% of the Administration’s worksite arrests that year
were of managers and employers (the rest were of immigrants).
When will the Administration start going after the employers
who are a large part of the problem, instead of focusing
only on the workers?
Q: When Will the Administration Prioritize
Worker Protection Over Splashy Immigration Headlines?
A: When it comes to worksite enforcement,
the Bush Administration has clearly prioritized the enforcement
of immigration laws against workers over the enforcement
of labor laws against abusive employers. When will DHS decide
to work with the Department of Labor to bring employers
who violate workers’ rights to justice? When will
the Administration get serious about protecting workers’
rights, and throw the book at bad employers who violate
wage and hour laws, treat workers like slaves, and physically
abuse their employees? When will the Administration stop
enabling unscrupulous employers, who use our broken immigration
system to keep workers from exercising their labor rights?
Q: When Will the Administration Bring
Agriprocessors to Justice?
A: Case in point: last month DHS raided the
Agiprocessors meatpacking plant in Postville, IA and carted
off nearly 400 undocumented workers. Over 300 were charged
with crimes like using false papers to work, and all will
be deported. But the owners and managers of Agriprocessors,
who have been accused of much more serious offenses such
as physically and sexually abusing their employees, remain
free. When can the American people expect the Administration
to take tough action against Agriprocessors’ owners
and managers for breaking the law and abusing their employees?
Q: When Will the Administration Stop
Hiding the Facts About its Failed “Headlines First”
Immigration Policy?
A: Immigration is too important a policy
issue to have much of the Administration’s performance
data buried and unavailable to policymakers and the public.
DHS statistics that are currently unavailable include basic
information about the number of employers arrested and prosecuted
for criminal violations of immigration law during President
Bush’s tenure; the number of employers audited for
compliance with federal immigration laws; the number of
employers who paid fines for violating immigration law;
and the number of worksite enforcement operations and the
cost to the American taxpayer. Instead of smoke and mirrors,
the American people need access to real data in order to
evaluate the Administration’s performance.
According to Frank Sharry, Executive Director
of America's Voice, "Secretary Chertoff once fought
for sensible immigration reform, but he now leads a Department
that is recklessly using extreme tactics in the service
of misguided priorities. The answer to illegal immigration
is comprehensive immigration reform, not showy raids, poor
treatment of workers, and amnesty for employers.”
America’s Voice is the newly-founded communications
and rapid-response arm of a reinvigorated campaign to advance
immigration reform. Its goal is to build the public support
and political power necessary to enact broad immigration
reform that includes a path to citizenship for the estimated
12 million immigrants working and living in the U.S. without
legal status
