The county Board of Supervisors Tuesday voted 4-1 in favor of a program to train owners and employees of small businesses about their rights in the event of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid.
Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer said she was prompted to craft the proposal after a raid on popular South Park restaurant Buona Forchetta in May became a national story.
In the first half of this year, ICE agents have made hundreds of arrests, dwarfing the number from the last two years. According to a statement from Lawson-Remer's office, the county Office of Labor Standards and Enforcement will oversee the program. Program features are:
— Multilingual "know-your-rights" training sessions to help small businesses legally respond to workplace enforcement actions;
— Tools and checklists to help employers "know what to do, and what not to do" if ICE or Department of Homeland Security officials show up; and
— Sample workplace protocols to prevent legal mistakes and reduce business disruption.
The initiative will also be available to members of the public and county employees, Lawson-Remer's office added.
According to figures compiled by the Deportation Data Project, in January, 64% of ICE arrestees had a criminal charge or conviction. By June, however, more than 72% of ICE arrestees had no criminal charges or convictions aside from their undocumented status. Lawson-Remer said the increased ICE activity is disrupting workplaces and the economy.
Lawson-Remer said her Small Business Know Your Rights program is intended to protect people from being wrongly arrested at their place of employment.
"Small businesses shouldn't have to fear being shut down by government overreach if they have played by the rules," she said. "We're working to protect constitutional rights, uphold due process, and make sure federal fear-mongering doesn't threaten lives and livelihoods, or destabilize San Diego's economy."
Small businesses account for nearly 380,000 businesses in San Diego County, many of them immigrant-owned and operating on thin margins, a statement from Lawson-Remer's office read.
Her proposal "focuses on workplace stability, legal compliance, and dignity for working families in the face of unprecedented ICE activity," she said.
Supervisor Jim Desmond, who voted no, said while he favors people knowing their rights, he couldn't support Lawson-Remer's measure.
"We wouldn't be in this situation if (Biden) hadn't let millions of people come over our border illegally and unvetted during the Biden administration," he said.
He added that California's status as a sanctuary state, along with policies on how local enforcement can respond to immigration cases, have not helped matters.
"The ICE tactics may seem severe but they're done to protect the law enforcement officers," he said, naming several reported undocumented migrants with serious criminal convictions who were arrested.
Supervisor Paloma Aguirre said the Buona Forchetta raid happened in her district, and "these tactics by ICE have nothing to do with public safety."
Aguirre noted the raid forced children to evacuate from a day care center.
Her colleague Monica Montgomery Steppe said the use of masked immigration agents and unmarked vehicles made the situations feel "very shady."
Voter sentiment in the November election aside, "the way these raids are being conducted, in my mind, (show that) cruelty and intimidation is the point," she said.
Considering how such raids can affect U.S. citizens, children and senior citizens, such training sessions are very important, Montgomery Steppe added.
Supervisor Joel Anderson said it was important to include all employers in the program.
"I want to make sure that if people are playing by the rules, they have a path and avenue to get this information," Anderson said.
He added if employers are taking advantage of undocumented workers, "that's absolutely wrong."
"I want ICE to raid you, and I want you to be prosecuted top the full extent of the law, especially when we learn that it's child labor," Anderson said. "We have to strike a balance. and I think this is as close as we can get to it."
