![]() ![]() This would level the playing field in terms of labor standards for all workers. The ideal solution to this problem would be federal immigration reform that provides legalization and a path to citizenship for the 11.3 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States. workers who work side by side with unauthorized immigrants. This power dynamic also undercuts the bargaining power of U.S. The threat of retaliation gives employers extraordinary power to exploit and underpay unauthorized immigrants. From January 1 to December 22, 2017, workers in California “filed 94 immigration-related retaliation claims” with the California Labor Commissioner’s Office, “up from 20 in all of 2016 and only seven” in 2015 (Khouri 2018). ![]() In California, reports of instances of such retaliation have been on the rise. But unauthorized immigrant workers, who on paper have labor and employment law protections, 1 in practice are often restrained from complaining about unpaid wages and substandard working conditions because of fears-or actual threats-that their employers will retaliate by reporting their immigration status to federal immigration enforcement authorities. Unauthorized immigrants contribute to the economy in vital industries, pay billions of dollars in taxes, and contribute billions to California’s economy. Unauthorized immigrant workers across the United States, including in California, are often subject to workplace abuse and retaliation by their employers that is based on and/or facilitated by those workers’ lack of an authorized immigration status. labor force and 9 percent of California’s labor force. Unauthorized immigrants make up 5 percent of the U.S. state that hosts the largest total number of immigrants as well as the largest number of unauthorized immigrants, and the largest number of immigrants who participate in the workforce (both authorized and unauthorized). ![]()
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