Of the 169 million people in the American workforce, more than 32 million are immigrants — more than 8 million of whom are undocumented. Many of those workers have become the target of the Trump Administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement.
Still, as the U.S. Constitution states, they have fundamental rights within the United States, regardless of their citizenship or immigration status. The Sur Legal Collaborative has made it its mission to defend immigrant workers and ensure they know their rights.
“We definitely hear how these immigration enforcements and workplace raids, even though they’re not happening exactly in the location that they’re in, they still hear it happening in Georgia, and that has a chilling effect on immigrants, raising panic, raising fear,” said Lucia Gambino.
“And this is why we have focused on emergency planning to try to have a plan in place instead of panicking and scrambling during a crisis.”
Gambino is the Bilingual Workers’ Rights Organizer for the Sur Legal Collaborative, a nonprofit that supports working immigrants and makes them aware of their rights, regardless of their documented status.
In addition to protecting immigrant workers from the nationwide ICE crackdown, the Sur Legal Collaborative also safeguards them from employers who may take advantage of them for wage theft and labor trafficking.
Aimee Pacheco, a staff attorney and founding advocacy and communications fellow for the Sur Legal Collaborative, says they help workers file complaints. However, the challenge they’re facing since President Trump returned to office is not knowing how much is being communicated between the Department of Labor and the Department of Homeland Security.
“So we have begun to tell workers to be a little bit more cautious and not disclose their immigration status,” said Pacheco.
“And also try to get workers to organize more and get U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents to be the ones to make some of those complaints on behalf of several workers, where workers are always more powerful together in numbers.”
Pacheco said the targeted ICE raids are affecting families and entire communities of documented and undocumented people. But like many other nonprofits, the Sur Legal Collaborative is attempting to serve several people on limited funding. Right now, they’re relying more on mutual aid and community volunteer work.
“It’s definitely been tough,” Pacheco said. “There has been a cut in funding all across the board for organizations doing this type of work. We are definitely still trying to look for sources of funding. Regardless of funding, this stuff is still happening.”
Gambino shared the best way citizens can help immigrant workers.
“For filing labor complaints, a good way is to step up for your immigrant coworkers and be the face of that complaint,” said Gambino. “Try to speak up, especially if you’re being favored because of your status.”
