Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas recently instructed the U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement to halt any immigrant raids on worksites, adding that the deployment of these operations results in the arrest of hundreds of workers. Mayorkas writes in the memo that the operations end up misallocating the resources and serving as a tool of retaliation for worker cooperation. It is the Biden administration’s way to deal with the workers who do not have the legal documents to work and live in the country.
The administration wrote in the memo that they plan to focus less on illegal migrant workers violating the law and more on the employers who circumvent the federal law to exploit these undocumented workers. Mayorkas said their accomplishments are to maximize the efforts of catching unscrupulous employers and their engagement in illegal acts. He details some of the illegal acts including unsafe, working conditions, human trafficking, and child exploitation.
Mayorkas went on to say that undocumented immigrants, as of 2019, only makes up about 5% of the labor force in the country and that the Biden administration is planning a Department-wide strategy to alleviate or mitigate the “fear that victims of, and witnesses to, labor trafficking and exploitation may have regarding their cooperation with law enforcement in the investigation and prosecution of unscrupulous employers.
Many critics pointed to the fact that the Biden Administration is leading migrants to take low-paying positions in the country while paying Americans to stay at home. Others said that the elimination of worksite raids is “corrupt” and limits the ICE’s deportation powers even more.
Worksite raids were often used during the Trump administration, with the most notable workplace raid in Mississippi in 2019. It led to the largest single-state immigration enforcement operation, which was the arrest of nearly 700 illegal aliens at food processing plants.
RJ, Hauman, head of government relations for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, made it clear that the Biden administration cannot abolish ICE “outright” and accused Mayorkas of destroying it from within.
“After the issuance of today’s memorandum effectively ending worksite enforcement – on top of other radical policy changes that are getting hard to count – one thing is clear: Secretary Mayorkas is the biggest disaster for border security and immigration enforcement in American history,” Hauman said.
The memo states that employers cannot exploit undocumented workers and create an unfair labor market by “driving down the costs” and “disadvantaging business competitors who abide by the law.” But the memo is too focused on the employers than those who are undocumented.
The memo also comes after DHS Secretary Mayorkas issued new directives that a migrant being in the country illegally “should not alone be the basis” for apprehending and deporting them. This includes officers who attempt to arrest and deport any farmworkers, elderly, or illegal immigrants who speak out at public demonstrations.
While the Biden administration continues to take criticism for not handling the border crisis, they are actively working on policies to make things worse. It’s clear that Biden has failed to defend American sovereignty and maintain any respect for the law.
Things have gotten so bad that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott attempted to file a Federal Emergency Declaration in the state to address the crisis and was denied. “President Biden has turned his back on Texans living along the border, and FEMA’s refusal to declare a federal emergency at the border puts their health, safety, and property at risk. The State of Texas is appealing this detrimental decision by FEMA because the Biden Administration’s refusal to solve the crisis at our border has led to a strain on local, state, and federal resources,” Abbott said.
According to Mayorkas, migrants being in the country illegally “should not alone be the basis” for deportation, which means that committing a crime should “not be the basis” for incarceration. This is the same radical left ideology that has crime spiking in blue cities and creating a bigger threat to public safety and its officials. Biden is telling Border law enforcement to break the law. There is nothing in the Constitution about that.
