Wed 30 Sep 2009
[KR: Many immigration advocates have been holding out hope that, even with an economic downturn, immigration reform would proceed under the Obama administration. The President has periodically voiced interest for comprehensive reform. Some even suggested that immigration reform could actually be seen as part of a stimulus package. What is apparent from stories like this in the NYT today is that we are a long way off from such rosy scenarios. Perhaps the only difference is that people are not being deported or taken from their homes and separated from family members. A more humane policy, perhaps, and also a more cost-effective one.]
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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/30/us/30factory.html
September 30, 2009
Immigration Crackdown With Firings, Not Raids
By JULIA PRESTON
LOS ANGELES ? A clothing maker with a vast garment factory in downtown Los Angeles is firing about 1,800 immigrant employees in the coming days ? more than a quarter of its work force ? after a federal investigation turned up irregularities in the identity documents the workers presented when they were hired.
The firings at the company, American Apparel, have become a showcase for the Obama administration?s effort to reduce illegal immigration by forcing employers to dismiss unauthorized workers rather than by using workplace raids. The firings, however, have divided opinion in California over the effects of the new approach, especially at a time of high joblessness in the state and with a major, well-regarded employer as a target.