Immigrant Workers
The garment industry in Los Angeles is under attack. On June 9th, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers raided Ambience Apparel looking for undocumented workers to arrest and deport as part of the Federal Government’s effort to remove 3,000 illegal immigrants from the United States every day. Arrests have sewn fear throughout the entire garment district, effectively bringing production at many businesses to a halt.
Apparel businesses aren’t alone in the assault. Farms, hospitality workers, car washes, and many other labor-intensive businesses have all been subject to the Federal Government’s crackdown on people living and working in the United States without proper documentation. The rationale behind the raids is likely political, fulfilling a campaign promise during the last election to put a halt to the crime and drugs that immigrants, they incorrectly argue, bring with them.
The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was formed in 2002 as part of the Homeland Security Act established in response to the September 11, 2001, al-Queda terrorist attacks in New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. The purpose of the agency is to protect the United States and the public from terrorism, customs violations, trafficking, and illegal immigration.
ICE consists of two main branches, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO). The purpose of HSI is to defend against international crime, and the ERO is charged with the responsibility of deporting undocumented immigrants.
After viewing the devastation caused by the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, it is entirely understandable why ICE was formed. While the majority of the 19 hijackers were living in the United States legally, some of them were not authorized to live here because they had overstayed their visas, and that is very likely the reason the Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) department of ICE was formed. It was an effort to prevent another 9/11.
A law, though, can be taken out of context to support a political objective, and I believe that is exactly what the current administration is doing by authorizing ICE to raid and terrorize immigrant communities. The Government’s actions today are reminiscent of how Japanese Americans were treated during World War II when they were confined to internment camps. Immigrants are not terrorists or enemy combatants. Most of the undocumented immigrants living in the United States today are simply doing their best to provide a better life for themselves and their families, and that’s commendable.
The American Immigration Council has written a remarkable fact sheet entitled Debunking the Myth of Immigrants and Crime. We highly recommend you read through it when you have time. You can view the document at:
https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/fact-sheet/debunking-myth-immigrants-and-crime/
Studies by the FBI, US Census, criminologists, sociologists, and economists from 1980 to 2022 all agree that there is no correlation between an increase in immigration and crime. In fact, immigrants are 60% less likely to be jailed than people born in the United States, and that’s a statistic that has been true every year for 150 years. The statistics say that immigrants are 26% less likely to be convicted of a homicide, and 50% less likely to be arrested for a violent crime.
The best way to reduce crime in America is to provide housing, economic stability, employment, and access to social services. Assessing tariffs on our trade partners will lead to economic instability, and raiding businesses and immigrant communities will accomplish nothing but increase unemployment.
It is important for the Federal Government to know who’s living and working in the United States. But rather than dispatching ICE officers to dehumanize and deport undocumented workers, the Government should train a group of professionals, like an enumerator for the US Census, to visit businesses to help undocumented workers complete the necessary paperwork to contribute to our tax system. If a person is using our healthcare system, our schools, social services, driving on our roads, or using our banks, they should be required to contribute their fair share in the form of taxes to help sustain the services they’re receiving while living here.
Most immigrants already pay taxes. In fact, according to the American Immigration Council, immigrants in the State of California paid $168.1 billion in taxes in 2023, with a total of $651.9 billion in taxes paid nationally. Not bad considering immigrants comprise only 14.3% of the entire American population. Perhaps more importantly, immigrants contributed $1.7 trillion to our national economy in 2023. Now that’s purchasing power!
America is one big melting pot. Our teachers taught us that in junior high school. Unless we’re native American, our families came from somewhere else, and that makes almost all of us descendants of immigrants. We need to treat them with far more respect than our Federal Government is today.
Have a wonderful Juneteenth!
Brett Bridgman
Doo Dah Apparel
