The Constitution on ICE

Have Arrest Warrant for One worker. Why Not Detain a Whole Factory Full at Gunpoint?

Sorry for the inconvenience, says government, but, after all, reasonable use of force and fourth amendment rights are, well, subjective.

Citizen's commission of labor groups launches investigation practices of enforcement actions by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE). The Commission will investigate claims of unconstitutional workplace enforcement actions, including massive round ups and detention of workers and in particular ICE's use of arrest warrants for a limited number of illegal immigrants who work at a given company as a pretext to detain the entire workforce, including many U.S. citizens, while agents determine whether there are additional illegal immigrants among them.

"Tens of millions of workers in America go to work every day without . . . an awareness that at their workplaces, without any warning, they could be swept up in a massive raid conducted by heavily armed government agents," said Joe Hansen, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union and chairman of the National Commission on ICE Misconduct and Violations of 4th Amendment Rights. "Workers are not aware that they could be detained at gunpoint. That they could be handcuffed. . . . That they could be denied any contact with family members or legal counsel."

In the Washington Post ICE spokeswoman Pat Reilly explains, " "I would imagine that some people may be detained beyond what they feel is reasonable. But it's subjective," she said. "What we're trying to do is get to the bottom of who has the right to be here and who might be posing as a U.S. citizen."