California state officials have been standing by a policy of barring ICE agents from entering or in any way interjecting themselves in legal proceedings that concern suspected illegal immigrants.
The state’s Labor Commissioner Julie Su told agents to take a hike and not to come back unless they had a warrant.
She complained that the presence of ICE agents discourages workers from pursuing legitimate labor disputes with their employers for fear of deportation.
Which of course begs the most obvious question: if a worker fears deportation, isn’t that a defacto admission of guilt and thereby sufficient cause for ICE to enter?
Is it really that difficult to discern?
The fact of the matter is California Democrats want more voters who will keep them in office, period.
Here’s more from Sacramento Bee…
California’s top labor law enforcer wants federal immigration agents to stay away from offices where state investigators weigh claims about underpaid employees and workplace retaliation.
Labor Commissioner Julie Su last month directed her staff to turn away Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents unless the federal officers have warrants.
Her directive followed three instances over the past 10 months in which immigration agents sought information about California workers who had filed claims against employers. In two cases, immigration agents attempted to attend hearings where investigators discuss claims with workers and their employers, Su said. In all three cases, the agents left when they were asked, she said.
Those contacts with immigration officers dovetail with a surge in complaints from California workers about employers threatening to have them deported. Last year, Su’s office in the Department of Industrial Relations investigated 14 complaints from workers who claimed their employers threatened them with immigration enforcement.
So far this year, the department has opened 58 immigration-based retaliation cases, Su said.
She said the presence of immigration officers in state offices could disrupt the enforcement of labor laws by discouraging immigrant workers from reporting employers who short them on wages or unfairly punish them in other ways.
“What (the workers) say is ‘I don’t want to pursue my case anymore,’ ” Su said. “It’s our job to prevent retaliation, not assist in it.”
