SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Earlier today, approximately 100 people – including janitors and their community allies – rallied outside of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in San Francisco to protest the agency’s reckless worksite enforcement policies. While the agency reports targeting egregious employers that exploit and harbor undocumented workers, close to 800 Bay Area janitors have lost their jobs since the beginning of 2011 under current failed policy.

“In the wake of reckless worksite enforcement on the part of ICE, hardworking people are pushed into the underground economy and forced to turn to employers who don’t pay taxes and don’t pay fair wages,” explained Mike Garcia, President of SEIU United Service Workers West. “These unscrupulous employers lower costs by exploiting workers and can therefore underbid legitimate competing businesses. This model of exploitation not only rewards bottom-feeding employers and hurts workers.”

“The ripple effects of these I-9 audits are enormous,” said Tim Paulson, Executive Director of the San Francisco Labor Council. “Their contribution to fostering an underground economy lowers standards for all San Francisco workers. It robs the city of tax revenues, pressures businesses to lower wages to compete with businesses that have an unfair advantage, and puts our economy at risk.”

“Employers who break immigration laws and exploit undocumented workers are unlikely to use I-9 forms, thereby undermining the efforts of ICE to catch them in I-9 audits,” continued Garcia. “Instead of catching the “worst of the worst,” the ICE audits are effectively hand-delivering workers to the very employers they seek to target.”

“Reckless I-9 audits are disrupting law-abiding businesses and creating tension and fear in immigrant communities,” said San Francisco City Supervisor David Campos. “We need to enforce our immigration policies in smart, strategic ways to go after those employers who are exploiting undocumented workers, not the businesses who are trying to get our economy back on track.”

“The fear is very real in our communities,” said Axel Melendrez, a janitor who has lived in Oakland for five years. “But we can’t sit silently while our communities are being devastated and our progress is undone by these audits.”