Gebe Martinez is communications coordinator for the Immigrant Justice Campaign of the Service Employees International Union. She previously worked as a journalist covering politics and policy.

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ICE Follies: 'Silent' Raids are Worse Than Useless

by Gebe Martinez 09-08-2011

There are no whirring helicopters, law enforcement vehicles, or hundreds of federal agents swooping down on businesses as in days of old. Instead, such immigration raids have been replaced by a less overtly brutal approach: "silent" raids, or audits of work eligibility I-9 forms.

But the fear remains.

At the first whisper of an employer receiving notice from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that employees' eligibility records are about to be checked, pulses rise. Legal workers worry about being erroneously bounced out of work; unauthorized employees fear being kicked out of the country and separated from their families. Communities are shaken, business operations are disrupted, and jobs are lost. The anemic economy takes another hit.

ICE Follies

by Gebe Martinez 09-01-2011

'Silent' raids that drive workers into the underground economy are worse than useless.