Cities adapt laws to shield immigrant workers
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Octavio Jones/AFP via Getty Images
After recent immigration raids across the city and suburbs, lawmakers and employers are trying novel strategies to protect workers.
Why it matters: Immigrants — whether they have authorization to work here or not — are being apprehended by the thousands across Chicago.
What they're saying: Last Tuesday, "ICE was all over town literally grabbing landscapers off the street," Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss said Sunday on Instagram. "What we're encouraging is for folks to pay their landscapers not to come to work."
Driving the news: Evanston has temporarily suspended its gas-powered leaf blower ban "so people can more easily take care of their own lawns" while they give their usual lawn care team a break, said Biss, who is running to represent Illinois' 9th District in the U.S. House.
- Earlier this month, Oak Park officials modified their new leaf blower laws to direct fines at homeowners instead of contractors and to refrain from taking pictures of workers using them.
Yes, but: Oak Park Trustee Cory Wesley wanted a full suspension of the law because "when you're in a situation where people are actively being racially profiled … any [interaction with officials] causes that level of anxiety," the Wednesday Journal reported.
Meanwhile: Several Lincoln Park nannies were questioned last week by immigration agents in a park, Ald. Timmy Knudsen (43rd) tells Axios. While none, to his knowledge, was apprehended, the incidents left an impression.
- "The nannies are terrified to take the kids outside. So even if they have nothing to worry about [because they're legal], they're like, 'I can't even imagine if ICE would grab me or take me and then what happens to the kids?'" Sarah Davis, founder of Olive You Nanny, tells Axios.
- Families are opting for day care over nannies because of this fear, Davis says.
Between the lines: When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last month that immigration agents could detain people based on racial profiling, National Domestic Workers Alliance leaders predicted it would open "the door to raids at homes, care centers, construction sites, farms and other job sites where essential work is happening."
Some businesses, especially those in food and hospitality, are posting signs warning immigration agents to stay off their property, drawing both positive and negative feedback from the public.
The bottom line: Knudsen suggests that employers familiarize themselves with the kind of publicly available "know your rights" strategies — explaining when agents are entitled to entry and information — that food service businesses have been using to train staff for almost a year.
- He also suggests flexibility, advising that contractors "consider giving the option of a day off or leaving for the day" to particularly vulnerable staffers.
What's next: Biss says the leaf blower idea came from community activists and he welcomes more.
- "We're open to all ideas to keep people safe," he says. "This is an emergency, and we all have to work together."