SEATTLE, WA – Washington’s Democratic attorney general is looking at a new way to shield the state’s immigrant workers amid the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation agenda.
Attorney General Nick Brown is proposing legislation, dubbed the Immigrant Worker Protection Act, that would require employers to notify their employees of a planned inspection of employment eligibility paperwork within 72 hours of being notified about it by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Other states, including California, Oregon and Illinois, already have similar laws.
The attorney general’s office notes workplace raids are increasing under President Donald Trump. But first, federal immigration agents usually tell employers they want to audit I-9 documents.
“While the employer is given 72 hours to gather and produce their employees’ I-9 forms, employees often have no idea that their I-9 documents are being sent for review,” spokesperson Mike Faulk said. “This bill would give workers the opportunity to get their documentation in order, speak to an attorney, or make plans with their family if needed.”
Employers fill out I-9 forms for all of their employees. On the forms, workers attest to their legal status or authorization to work in the United States, and must provide documentation to that effect.
Businesses can use the federal E-Verify system to compare an employee’s I-9 to government data to determine their eligibility to work. Many states require at least some employers to use E-Verify, but Washington isn’t one of them.
The proposed law would protect against raids like one earlier this year at a Bellingham roofing company.
Immigration officials had reportedly asked Mt. Baker Roofing for I-9 documentation for its workers. Investigators said they found 56 employees had given false information. They used this information to get a judge to sign off on a warrant to search the company’s warehouse. In an early morning raid in April, federal agents arrested 37 people.
In May, agents arrested 17 workers at Eagle Beverage and Accessories Products in Kent, with the help of the Internal Revenue Service. Authorities attributed the arrests to employees presenting fraudulent work documents attesting to their immigration status.
The Biden administration had paused such large-scale workplace raids, and instead focused on holding employers accountable for hiring unauthorized workers. The Trump administration restarted the practice this year.
One of the Trump era’s largest workplace immigration operations came last month, when agents arrested nearly 500 workers, mostly South Korean citizens, at a car plant in Georgia.
The executive director of the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network called Brown’s proposal “an important means of transparency for workers.”
“Immigrant communities who are essential to the economic and cultural vitality of our state are facing enormous threats because of the federal government’s ongoing mass detention and deportation agenda, while also struggling to meet basic needs,” Catalina Velasquez said in a statement.
On the other hand, state Rep. Jim Walsh, the chair of the Washington Republican Party, called it a “clear effort to undermine enforcement of federal immigration law.”
“It’s not clever. It’s not smart,” Walsh, R-Aberdeen, said in a text message Tuesday. “It’s decadent. And it puts the interests of illegal aliens ahead of the rights of American citizens.”
The attorney general’s office and state Department of Labor and Industries would enforce the policy.
Brown outlined his proposal in a Labor Day report last month on his office’s efforts to protect workers, and in a request for funding to Gov. Bob Ferguson. Lawmakers next year will approve a supplemental budget building on the two-year spending plan they passed this year.
Brown wants about $400,000 to carry out the law if it is passed. Some of that money would go to community organizations like the solidarity network for outreach and education work.
The next legislative session begins in January and is set to last 60 days.
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