As Californian employers are dealing with the responsibilities of running their organizations as efficiently as possible, they may soon have to make a very important decision regarding their undocumented workers.
On January 18th, it was reported that the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement(ICE) would be targeting San Francisco in the upcoming weeks, with anticipation of taking 1,500 undocumented immigrants into custody. A source for San Francisco Chronicle said “The operation would go after people who have been identified as targets for deportation, including those who have been served with final deportation orders and those with criminal histories,the number could tick up if officers come across other undocumented immigrants in the course of their actions and make what are known as collateral arrests.”
California politicians have made their stance very clear on undocumented immigrants. They are going to protect them at any cost. On January 18th, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra in a press conference said that he would prosecute any employers who cooperated with ICE doing their job. As said by Becerra“It’s important, given these rumors that are out there, to let people know – more specifically today, employers – that if they voluntarily start giving up information about their employees or access to their employees in ways that contradict our new California laws, they subject themselves to actions by my office, we will prosecute those who violate the law.” Employers that decide to help ICE locate undocumented immigrant, will face legal repercussions, and fines up $10,000.
The Supremacy Clause in the United States Constitution under Article IV, Clause 2 states that federal laws made pursuant to it, and treaties made under its authority, constitute the supreme law of the land. Furthermore, it states that when the court is in conflict between state and federal laws, the federal law must be applied. However the Doctrine of Preemption states a federal court may require a state to stop certain behavior it believes interferes with, or is in conflict with, federal law. Since it is not a requirement to enact federal law over state law, those employers acting in accordance with ICE may still face penalty from the state without any deterrence from the federal government.
Sharokina Shams, the California Restaurant Association vice president of public affairs, spoke to Nation’s Restaurant News “The bill puts employers in a tight spot, particularly small businesses — which might not have access to attorneys and human resources professionals — that are continuously being forced into the front lines of this debate. While larger employers may be able to sort out the legalities and avoid penalization, smallers business may not have the resources to.”
California employers are busy with day to day operations of their business. Now they are coming under threat from California to break federal law. The Supremacy Clause says that federal law supersedes state law, but there is still a possibility that they will not be protected from being fined. Unfortunately, smaller business will not have the resources to effectively handle the new legislation. Whatever decision the specific employer decides to make, in some ways the government will be involved. Business operations are being impeded by the government. In California employees are facing a no-win situation where they must soon make a decision.
