The Exploitation and Abuse of Human Workers Due to Citizenship
Imagine a hardworking man, who attends church, pays taxes, provides for his family, donates to charity, and dies fatally from unsafe working conditions. Oh, and he's an illegal immigrant. Immigrants have been exploited and discriminated through labor since the foundation of America, and it eventually resulted in the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 in which it “imposed penalties on businesses that knowingly hired... unauthorized immigrants” (Plumer). This didn’t prohibit employers from hiring, but instead they used it as a justification to abuse workers and avoid persecution from labor and immigration laws. Illegal immigrants employed in blue-collar jobs need to have mandated protective …show more content…
Often, workers ask for payment or try to organize unions for better conditions, however, they are instead met with coercion of deportation and law enforcement, which results in fear of reporting these illegal crimes. Among the California State Senate, and the Obama administration, there have been advances for punitive discipline for those enacting in this corrupt behavior, however it isn’t enough as employers have threatened workers with immigration “in at least half of campaigns involving [a] majority [of] undocumented workforces” (Cho). Arguments assert that these illegal workers do not deserve protected policies, however this is theft, abuse, and American labor laws are mandated to protect workers, in spite of citizenship. If employers are going to ignore the 1986 immigration law, they might as well implement fair conduct for these non-American workers who work tirelessly to help maintain, and construct American facilities. Endangering these workers endangers families, especially with kids, who cannot survive if their family is deported or unable to provide for