Most Alabama Companies Miss E-Verify Registration Deadline [AP] 

NYC Comptroller Recovers $1.2 Million From Building Contractors for Cheated Workers [NY Realestaterama] 

Over 3100 Undocumented Immigrants Held in Nationwide ICE Raid [msnbc.com] [Washington Post] 

Mississippi Immigration Enforcement Bill Killed [CNBC] 

State Dept. Confirms Criticism of Student Guestworker Program: It’s About Work, not Culture [In These Times]

Day Laborer Supporters Rally in Pomona [Daily Bulletin] 

FILED UNDER: E-Verify | Guestworkers | I-9/Employer Audits | Immigrant Workers | Immigration Reform | Organizing | Wage Theft

Berlin, Germany -- A delegation of civil rights and labor leaders will be in Berlin, Germany today to urge Daimler AG, an automaker which produces Mercedes-Benz vehicles in Alabama, to seek repeal of Alabama's anti-immigrant law, HB 56. SEIU and its affiliate, the Southern Regional Joint Board of Workers United, also filed a complaint with the International Labor Organization (ILO) of the United Nations. This round of labor and shareholder activism with auto manufacturers that operate in Alabama follows similar efforts by civil rights leaders with the Hyundai car company last month, which also manufactures cars in Alabama.

FILED UNDER: Human Rights | Immigrant Workers | Litigation

This weekend, farmworkers, United Farm Workers' supporters and community activists will celebrate Cesar Chavez' birthday by affirming the the lives and work of farmworkers "are worth more," with marches and celebrations across the country.  Chavez' birthday on March 31 is celebrated as an official holiday in eight states.

In California, UFW President Arturo Rodriguez said, "We honor Cesar Chavez' legacy on this 50th Anniversary of the founding of his union by declaring that farm workers are worth more -- and deserve more -- in pay and protections."  The UFW's legislative priorities as it marks its 50th Anniversary are bills protecting farm workers from dying of the heat and providing field laborers with overtime pay after eight hours a day, like nearly all other Californian workers currently receive.

FILED UNDER: Agricultural Workers | Human Rights | Immigrant Workers | Labor | Unions

Several news outlets, including the Washington Post,  the Huffington Post, and the San Jose Mercury News report that ICE’s review of existing deportation cases for prosecutorial discretion will soon cover several additional cities. Following a pilot review that took place in Baltimore and Denver late last year, DHS will conduct reviews in Seattle, Detroit, New Orleans and Orlando from April 23 to May 24. Additional reviews will take place in New York City from May 7 to May 18, San Francisco from June 4 to June 15, and Los Angeles from July 9 to July 20.

On June 17, 2011, ICE Director John Morton released a memo outlining guidelines for exercising prosecutorial discretion in cases where individuals are involved in efforts to protect their civil and labor rights and liberties. NELP has released a detailed fact sheet on requesting prosecutorial discretion on behalf of immigrant workers.

FILED UNDER: DHS/ICE | Immigrant Workers

On Tuesday, the New York Attorney General's Office arrested the owner of Tortilleria Chinantla in New York City, where Juan Baten, an immigrant from Guatemala, was killed last year when he fell into a dough mixer. The owner, Erasmo Ponce, now faces felony charges for falsifying business records and misdemeanor charges for wage violations. Juan Baten is survived by his partner and infant daughter. Brandworkers, a worker rights group who organized around Baten's death, applauded the New York Attorney General's actions.

FILED UNDER: Immigrant Workers | Local Campaigns | Low-Wage Workers | Organizing