By Irfan Shariff
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
“Seattle does not cooperate with immigration enforcement but does not prevent or impede it,” said Jena Yang of the city’s Office of Immigrant Safety and Refugee Affairs (OIRA). “Immigration enforcement is a federal matter.”
Yang, OIRA and the city’s Office of Economic Development (OED) hosted a virtual Know Your Rights training last week that focused on protecting small business owners and employers, amid an uptick in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity since the start of the second Trump administration.
“Do not do more than you need to do. Do not do their job for them,” said Diane Butler, a partner at law firm Davis Wright Tremaine focusing on immigration and a guest speaker at the virtual training. She provided employers details of situations that could prompt investigations and recommended practices to deal with them.
There are several agencies that a business owner could encounter if they or their employee is under investigation, according to Butler’s presentation. ICE has two components, Enforcement and Removal Operations and Homeland Security Investigations, which all fall under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DHS is also composed of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency responsible for granting citizen and immigration status.
Butler also noted that “the head of DHS has asked the IRS to start becoming involved in investigations” as well as the Social Security Administration (SSA).
“If the IRS shows up, I want you to take it very seriously” because this could impact you and not just your employees, warned Butler.
If enforcement shows up to your business, Butler advises that you verify identity through a badge or business card, document everything, make photocopies if you’re able and ask questions.
“This is to slow down the process,” she said.
She said there are two types of warrants—administrative and judicial. Generally, you don’t have to comply with administrative warrants like the I-200 (arrest of aliens) and I-205 (removal/deportation). You must comply with judicial warrants which are signed by a judge and address a specific individual.
Additional encounters may be triggered by I-9 audits. All employers are required to complete an I-9 for new employees within three days of hire. Butler notes that there are new I-9 forms and that these audits are “becoming a cash-cow for DHS.” There can be a $2,861 penalty for each form in violation.
The SSA is also issuing notices of social security number no-match status.
“No-match letters are not issued for the purpose of finding who’s not authorized to work in the U.S.” she noted, but to correct information and match over $1.2 trillion in uncredited wages to workers.
Therefore, “do not take adverse actions such as laying off or firing just because you got a no match letter,” she said.
Butler acknowledges that “many times the individuals who are encountered are too shocked, stunned, scared or intimidated.”
She recommends having a plan in place in the event of these types of encounters and saying “I object” as a way to invoke the Fifth Amendment right. “But be careful not to impede.”
Other speakers included Michael Wells, small business advocate at OED who manages the legal assistance program and Michael Deheeger, campaign director at the American Business Immigration Coalition (AIBC).
Deheeger describes AIBC as a “bipartisan coalition of around 1,700 employers in a couple dozen states advancing common-sense policy on immigration.” In March, AIBC launched its “Secure America’s Workforce” campaign which claims that the U.S. has a workforce shortage of 1.7 million people and calls on the administration to humanely fix the immigration system.
The training did not provide guidance to immigrants who may be the focus of ICE activity.
There are over 143,000 foreign-born residents of Seattle, according to the 2020 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s a 47% increase since 2000. Almost one-third of this population come from China, India or Vietnam. The U.S. Census does not ask the legal status of the foreign-born population.
A 2016 number from the Pew Research Center estimates there are also 140,000 undocumented immigrants in the Seattle-Tacoma area. According to the Immigration and Nationality Act, any class of immigrant—green card holder or not—can be removed from the U.S.
Immigrants in the Seattle metropolitan area also provide $12.7 billion in taxes, according to 2019 research by New American Economy.
Seattle is considered a “sanctuary city” but it is not immune to ICE encounters.
Instead of sanctuary city, city government prefers to “use the term ‘Welcoming City,’ which means all city departments prioritize and consider policies, actions and practices that help immigrant and refugee communities succeed,” according to its website. “Regarding Seattle’s municipal code related to undocumented immigrants, we prefer the terminology of ‘don’t ask’ policies.”
Washington state is also considered a sanctuary in that it limits its cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
AIBC, the City of SeaTac and the Seattle Southside Chamber of Commerce will hold a similar training on April 22. (https://www.seattlesouthsidechamber.com/events/details/know-this-now-immigration-updates-for-employers-webinar-7162)
To learn more or watch the training, visit the website for the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs. (https://www.seattle.gov/iandraffairs)