MIRC Takes Issue

On an ongoing basis, the federal government contracts with local agencies to expand short and long-term custodial services to immigrant children in Michigan. When new facilities open or current facilities expand, legal services contracts are sought to support the children who will come to these new placements.

For the first time in Michigan’s history as a receiving state for unaccompanied children, an Emergency Intake Site (EIS) was located in the state beginning in late Spring 2021 (more about the opening here). EIS facilities are considered in the unaccompanied children framework as a resource for temporary shelter when an unusually high number of children overwhelms system resources. In other states where EIS operations have been more commonplace, advocates have identified concerns about the conditions in which children are being housed.

Children are children, regardless of their nationality, and our law and our values require us to act in their best interest. We know that children seeking asylum and other immigration protections are incredibly resilient but have experienced trauma and need a supportive environment. Our goal is to provide the best quality legal services we can to help ensure they have the safety and care they need to thrive.

Many farmworkers travel long distances to work in Michigan harvesting, packing, and processing our fruits and vegetables and they are dependent on their employer for both work and housing. The work they do is often dangerous and always physically and mentally demanding. Yet, the men, women, and children, who harvest, pack and process our fruits and vegetables, have been left out of employment protections other workers enjoy.

In May 2018, the Trump administration formally announced a “zero tolerance” immigration policy and began prosecuting nearly all adult immigrants illegally entering the United States on misdemeanor charges. As a result, the U.S. government removed any children from these immigrants’ care and placed the children in shelters or federal foster care. This practice of family separation was also enforced against parents applying for asylum at U.S. ports of entry.

The right to a minimum wage is one of the most basic and fundamental protections a worker can count on in the workplace. Agricultural workers are among the most vulnerable and often-exploited workers, doing one of the most dangerous, and essential jobs, in today's economy. Michigan’s Wage and Hour laws are meant to offer stateside protection to workers where the federal government will not. Until very recently, this included agricultural workers on Michigan’s small farms.

Cómo el Michigan Immigrant Rights Center esta navegando el sistema migratorio estatal opresivo.

*Originalmente publicado por Race Forward en su página web ColorLines aquí.

When we have allies who understand immigrants and refugees as a means to an economic end rather than equal partners in seeking shared prosperity, we can get disastrous results.