Employer sanctions: The impact of workplace raids and fines on undocumented migrants and ethnic enclave employers

Indonesia is the country most affected by the Asian financial crisis which began in mid-1997 and has been the slowest to recover from it. In the present paper the effects of the first two and a half years of the crisis on international population movements influencing Indonesia are discussed. The crisis has increased economic pressures on potential migrant workers in Indonesia and the result has been increased out-movement. In both pre and post-crisis situations this was dominated by women, at least among official migrant workers. The crisis has tightened the labor market in some of Indonesia's main destination countries but the segmentation of the labor market in those countries has limited the impact of the crisis in reducing jobs in those countries. The crisis has created more pressure on undocumented migrants in destination countries but the extent of repatriation, while higher than in the pre-crisis situation, has been limited. The crisis has directly or indirectly affected other international movements influencing Indonesia including expatriate movement to Indonesia and longer-term, south-north migration out of the country. The policy implications of these changes are discussed including the fact that the crisis has led to an increased appreciation of the importance of contract labor migration by government and greater attention being paid to improving the system for migrants themselves and the country as a whole.

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Health, wellbeing and access to care of undocumented migrants in Geneva, Switzerland

European Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/eurpub/ckz186.021 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽

Author(s):

Y Jackson ◽

L Consoli ◽

A Duvoisin ◽

J Fakhoury ◽

G Ferro-Luzzi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Data Collection ◽

Legal Status ◽

Satisfaction With Life ◽

High Morbidity ◽

Undocumented Migrants ◽

Care Needs ◽

Health And Wellbeing ◽

Excellent Health ◽

Reported Health ◽

The Impact

Abstract Background Switzerland hosts 50’000 to 100’000 undocumented migrants but hardly any evidence exist about their health and wellbeing. A pilot regularization policy took place in Geneva (2017-2018). Methods Parchemins is a mixed-methods prospective study assessing the impact of legal status regularization on undocumented migrants’ health and wellbeing. The quantitative data collection uses yearly face-to-face health questionnaire. Wellbeing is measured by self-reported satisfaction with life on a 10-point Likert scale. We present the results of the first wave of data collection conducted before regularization. Results Participants were mainly women (71.9%) from Latin America (63.2%), aged 44.2 (SD 10.4) years, with secondary or higher education (77.3%), living in Geneva with a partner (47.6%) and minor children (22.3%) for an average of 11.8 (SD 5.4) years. While 82.2% reported good to excellent health, 54% presented overweight or obesity and 21% suffered 3 or more chronic conditions. Self-reported prevalence of hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and diabetes were 17.6%, 7.6% and 4.9%, respectively. Screening for depression and anxiety using PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scales was positive in 45.2% and 35.9% of participants. Only 29.9% had a health insurance. In the previous year, 74.8% had at least one medical consultation and 30.4% consulted in emergency but 27% had renounced to seek care for economic reasons. Overall, 97.3% were exposed to health hazards at the workplace and 5.9% suffered an accident leading to work interruption in the last 6 months. Overall, life satisfaction level amounted to 7.4 (SD 2.2) out of 10. Conclusions The baseline results show a contrast between good self-reported health and fair wellbeing with frequent comorbid health conditions notably of mental origin, exposure to occupational hazards and economic limitations in the ability to respond to one’s health care needs. Next study waves will shade light on the public health and clinical impact of regularization. Key messages Legal status may act as a key determinant of health therefore regularization is likely to produce significant health effects. Undocumented migrants good wellbeing and self-reported health contrasts with high morbidity notably of mental origin.

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Impact of legal status change on undocumented migrants’ health and well-being (Parchemins): protocol of a 4-year, prospective, mixed-methods study

BMJ Open ◽

10.1136/bmjopen-2018-028336 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (5) ◽

pp. e028336 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Yves Jackson ◽

Delphine S Courvoisier ◽

Aline Duvoisin ◽

Giovanni Ferro-Luzzi ◽

Patrick Bodenmann ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mixed Methods ◽

Health Status ◽

Legal Status ◽

Well Being ◽

Living Conditions ◽

Mixed Methods Study ◽

Control Group ◽

Undocumented Migrants ◽

The Impact ◽

Health And Well Being

IntroductionMigrants without residency permit, known as undocumented, tend to live in precarious conditions and be exposed to an accumulation of adverse determinants of health. Only scarce evidence exists on the social, economic and living conditions-related factors influencing their health status and well-being. No study has assessed the impact of legal status regularisation. The Parchemins study is the first prospective, mixed-methods study aiming at measuring the impact on health and well-being of a regularisation policy on undocumented migrants in Europe.Methods and analysisThe Parchemins study will compare self-rated health and satisfaction with life in a group of adult undocumented migrants who qualify for applying for a residency permit (intervention group) with a group of undocumented migrants who lack one or more eligibility criteria for regularisation (control group) in Geneva Canton, Switzerland. Asylum seekers are not included in this study. The total sample will include 400 participants. Data collection will consist of standardised questionnaires complemented by semidirected interviews in a subsample (n=38) of migrants qualifying for regularisation. The baseline data will be collected just before or during the regularisation, and participants will subsequently be followed up yearly for 3 years. The quantitative part will explore variables about health (ie, health status, occupational health, health-seeking behaviours, access to care, healthcare utilisation), well-being (measured by satisfaction with different dimensions of life), living conditions (ie, employment, accommodation, social support) and economic situation (income, expenditures). Several confounders including sociodemographic characteristics and migration history will be collected. The qualitative part will explore longitudinally the experience of change in legal status at individual and family levels.Ethics and disseminationThis study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Geneva, Switzerland. All participants provided informed consent. Results will be shared with undocumented migrants and disseminated in scientific journals and conferences. Fully anonymised data will be available to researchers.

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Ensuring migrants’ right to health? Case of undocumented children in Israel

BMJ Paediatrics Open ◽

10.1136/bmjpo-2019-000490 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. e000490 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Dana Moss ◽

Zoe Gutzeit ◽

Ranit Mishori ◽

Nadav Davidovitch ◽

Dani Filc

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Right To Health ◽

Migrant Children ◽

Medical Community ◽

Public Healthcare ◽

General Strategy ◽

Undocumented Migrants ◽

Access To Medical Care ◽

The Right ◽

The Impact

After 18 years of providing government-subsidised medical insurance for children of undocumented migrants, the Israeli Ministry of Health (MOH) decided in 2018 to abruptly reverse its policy. Many children will have access to medical care only in cases of emergency. The policy change is set to potentially impact several thousands of children currently living or born in Israel. The non-profit, humanitarian sector is already seeing the impact on undocumented migrant children, with dozens of families reaching out to Physicians for Human Rights Israel to seek help accessing care for their children. These policy changes seem to be politically motivated, aiming to exclude undocumented communities from the public healthcare system as part of a general strategy of encouraging them to leave Israel. Such actions are antithetical to public health, human rights and medical ethics considerations. The Israeli Medical Association is beginning to challenge the stance of the MOH. To conform to international guidelines—both legal and medical—government ministries and relevant official bodies must follow the advice of the medical community to ensure respect for the right to health.

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The Impact of the Economic Crisis on Migrant Labor in Malaysia: Policy Implications

Asian and Pacific Migration Journal ◽

10.1177/011719689800700207 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 7 (2-3) ◽

pp. 255-280 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Patrick Pillai

Keyword(s):

Pension Fund ◽

Policy Implications ◽

Migrant Labor ◽

Undocumented Migrants ◽

Social Consensus ◽

Income Inequalities ◽

Foreign Labor ◽

Market Factors ◽

And Migration ◽

The Impact

The regional crisis will increase employment and income inequalities within and between countries, thereby further increasing emigration pressures and drawing into sharper focus the disjunction between capital movement, State sovereignty and migration. Malaysia, with one of Asia's largest foreign labor pools, is a case in point. The financial crisis has hit most sectors, but migrants in construction and services are particularly affected. Official retrenchment data do not include the tens of thousands of documented migrants whose permits were not renewed on expiry, or the undocumented migrants repatriated. Though security concerns appeared to override market factors soon after the crisis broke out, demand for labor, employer pressure, and the prospect of higher revenues from migrant levies and pension fund contributions encouraged the State to change its stance and adopt a more flexible policy on migrant recruitment. Nationally, there is an urgent need for a clearer social consensus, culminating in a more consistent, predictable and detailed program to reduce foreign labor dependence. Regionally, governments have to create more jobs and reduce poverty so that migration pressures are eased.

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Return migrants and the wage premium: does the legal status of migrants matter?

Journal of Population Economics ◽

10.1007/s00148-021-00872-z ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Nelly Elmallakh ◽

Jackline Wahba

Keyword(s):

Process Model ◽

Legal Status ◽

Home Country ◽

Undocumented Migrants ◽

Undocumented Migration ◽

Wage Penalty ◽

Temporary Migration ◽

Return Migrants ◽

Unique Data ◽

The Impact

AbstractThis paper examines the impact of the legal status of overseas migrants on their wages upon return to the home country. Using unique data from Egypt, which allows us to distinguish between return migrants according to whether their international migration was documented or undocumented, we examine the impact of illegal status on wages upon return. Relying on a Conditional Mixed Process model, which takes into account the selection into emigration, into return, and into the legal status of temporary migration, we find that, upon return, undocumented migrants experience a wage penalty compared with documented migrants, as well as relative to non-migrants. Our results are the first to show the impact of undocumented migration on the migrant upon return to the country of origin.

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The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic and the Lockdown on the Health and Living Conditions of Undocumented Migrants and Migrants Undergoing Legal Status Regularization

Frontiers in Public Health ◽

10.3389/fpubh.2020.596887 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

Author(s):

Claudine Burton-Jeangros ◽

Aline Duvoisin ◽

Sarah Lachat ◽

Liala Consoli ◽

Julien Fakhoury ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cohort Study ◽

Legal Status ◽

Working Hours ◽

Poor Mental Health ◽

Future Application ◽

Undocumented Migrants ◽

Online Questionnaire ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Sources Of Support ◽

The Impact

Introduction: Undocumented migrants are at high risk of adverse consequences during crises because of a lack of access to essential securities and sources of support. This study aims to describe the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the health and living circumstances of precarious migrants in Switzerland and to assess whether those undergoing legal status regularization fared better than undocumented migrants.Materials and methods: This cross-sectional mixed methods study was conducted during the COVID-19 lockdown in April–May 2020. Undocumented and recently regularized migrants taking part in an ongoing cohort study were asked to respond to an online questionnaire. A subsample was selected to undergo semi-directed phone interviews.Results: Overall, 117 of the 379 (30.9%) cohort study participants responded to the questionnaire. Seventeen interviews were conducted. Migrants faced cumulative and rapidly progressive difficulties in essential life domains. As a consequence, they showed high prevalence of exposure to COVID-19, poor mental health along with frequent avoidance of health care. Moreover, the loss of working hours and the related income overlapped with frequent food and housing insecurity. Around one participant in four had experienced hunger. Despite these unmet needs, half of the participants had not sought external assistance for reasons that differ by legal status. Both groups felt that seeking assistance might represent a threat for the renewal or a future application for a residency permit. While documented migrants were less severely affected in some domains by having accumulated more reserves previously, they also frequently renounced to sources of support.Conclusions: The cumulated difficulties faced by migrants in this period of crisis and their limited search for assistance highlight the need to implement trust-building strategies to bridge the access gap to sources of support along with policies protecting them against the rapid loss of income, the risk of losing their residency permit and the exposure to multi-fold insecurities.

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Employers as Junior Immigration Inspectors: The Impact of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act

10.31228/osf.io/n8d2x ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Stephen W. Yale-Loehr

Keyword(s):

National Origin ◽

Immigration Reform ◽

Citizenship Status ◽

Immigration And Naturalization Service ◽

International Lawyer ◽

Immigration Legislation ◽

Employer Sanctions ◽

And Control ◽

The Impact ◽

Prospective Employee

21 International Lawyer, (1987)Maurice A. Roberts and Stephen W. Yale-LoehrThe Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), also known as the Simpson-Rodino Act, is the most significant piece of immigration legislation in over thirty years. It radically revamps this already complicated area of law. Its impact on employers is particularly great, and can be seen in three ways. First, fines of up to $10,000 and even jail sentences can be imposed on businesses that knowingly hire undocumented aliens. Second, every employer must now verify and maintain records on the immigration and citizenship status of each prospective employee, even if the applicant is a U.S. citizen. Third, antidiscrimination provisions prohibit all but the smallest employers from discriminating in hiring or firing on the basis of an individual's national origin or citizenship status. Persons who feel they have been discriminated against may initiate an action against the employer.These provisions create major new responsibilities for businesses, and in effect deputize them as junior immigration inspectors. Employers must now provide the sort of enforcement check that the woefully undermanned Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) is unable to perform. Lawyers will feel these duties and prohibitions doubly: first in advising their business clients, and second in having to comply themselves, in their own role as employers.This article analyzes the employer sanctions and antidiscrimination provisions of the Simpson-Rodino Act. The article points out ambiguities, gaps, and unanswered questions in the statute and supplementing regulations, and provides practical pointers for attorneys, businesses, and individuals.

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Facilitators and barriers to advancing binational health coverage strategies for undocumented Mexican migrants in the United States of America

10.21203/rs.2.16134/v1 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Armando Arredondo ◽

Emanuel Orozco ◽

Ana Lucia Recaman ◽

Alejandra Azar

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

United States Of America ◽

Social Protection ◽

The United States ◽

Undocumented Migrants ◽

Health Coverage ◽

Social Actors ◽

Facilitators And Barriers ◽

The Impact ◽

The U.S

Abstract Background: Within the framework of a new national health program with emphasis on universal coverage strategies and in the context of revision/adjustments to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA/TEMEC), the present study aimed to identify barriers, facilitators and challenges for the development of strategies on social protection in the health of migrants and their families. Material and methods: Evaluative research based on a qualitative analysis with a cross-sectional design. The techniques of documentary analysis, applied political analysis (mapping of actors), in-depth interviews and case studies were used. In the first stage, key actors were mapped at the federal level and senior executives and health officials, federal deputies, senators and members of the Mexican foreign service were interviewed. In the second stage, field work was carried out in the state of Guanajuato and California; State health service officials, state government officials, municipal officials, health unit workers, representatives of CSOs and relatives of migrants were interviewed. The analysis of the interviews was carried out through the ATLAS-Ti software, as well as the mapping of actors and feasibility analysis through the POLICY MAKER software. Results: The main results allowed to identify indicators on barriers and facilitators regarding social actors, binational agreements under NAFTA/TEMEC, institutional spaces, interaction between social actors, as well as the impact and type of relations for a greater advance in binational health policies. Several obstacles were reported, including the fears that undocumented emigrants have in the U.S. of being arrested and deported if they use public health services in the U.S. The stakeholders also believed that many Mexican emigrants do not have a culture that values health insurance. Conclusions: In the context of reforms and adjustments of health systems that are being discussed in parallel in the revision and adjustments of NAFTA/TEMEC (United States of America, Mexico and Canada), the facilitators and barriers identified can be used to strengthen the development of bi-national strategies with different schemes of social protection in the health of undocumented migrants and their families on both sides of the border.

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What’s “Justice and Dignity” Got to Do with It?: Migrant Vulnerability, Corporate Complicity, and the State

Human Organization ◽

10.17730/1938-3525-80.2.105 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 80 (2) ◽

pp. 105-116

Author(s):

Angela C. Stuesse

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Transnational Corporations ◽

The United States ◽

Organized Labor ◽

Immigrant Workers ◽

Undocumented Migrants ◽

Worker Rights ◽

The Social ◽

Employer Sanctions ◽

Engaged Ethnography

In 2001, Tyson Foods, one of the world’s leading chicken processors, was indicted on charges that it recruited undocumented migrants to work in its plants across the rural United States. In the following years, Tyson engaged in an operation to purge the largest chicken plant in the country of hundreds of unionized immigrant workers, relying heavily on the Social Security Administration’s controversial “No-Match” program to shape its termination practices. In response, a local campaign called for “Justice and Dignity” in the form of an improved corporate policy that would simultaneously serve the interests of the company, its workers, and their communities. This article chronicles that localized struggle and its national aftermath, illuminating the far-reaching effects federal “employer sanctions” have had on transnational corporations and their policymakers, on workers of different backgrounds, and on strategies used to advocate for worker rights. Politically engaged ethnography reveals how differentially positioned actors navigate and experience the neoliberal immigration and employment laws of the United States while deepening our understanding of the workings of the poultry industry, the recruitment of immigrant workers, and the anthropology of organized labor.

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