An alleged undocumented worker says she was underpaid for years while working at a restaurant in Roxboro, North Carolina. Then when she complained, the owner exposed her undocumented status - and the local police jailed her.
According to a report by ThinkProgress, after a hired investigator reported Miriam Martinez Solais had used a fake ID in order to get work, she was charged “with 22 counts of obtaining property by false pretenses.” The “property” she "obtained" was her paycheck.
ThinkProgress adds that NC “is one of many states” working on laws that allow local police to “crack down on immigrants,“ and Governor McCrory “is expected to sign a bill banning sanctuary cities, where local governments have decided to forbid their law enforcement from investigating or criminalizing people for their immigration status."
However, as the law now stands, based on a Supreme Court ruling in 2012, undocumented immigrants can be criminally prosecuted only by federal authorities for offenses like using fake documents to work.
Therefore the Roxboro police had no right to arrest Solais, and it appears Giovnani D. Abbusco, her employer, may have knowingly exploited Solais for several years, then retaliated after she complained.
Sign this petition to demand the Roxboro Police drop charges against Solais!
We, the undersigned, say the Roxboro Police overstepped their authority in arresting Solais.
According to ThinkProgress and Nolo, the federal agency Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) is responsible for enforcing immigration work-related laws. Nolo says "As of 2012, the agency has developed what it characterizes as a “comprehensive worksite enforcement strategy.” And part of that strategy also includes "enforcement efforts" regarding "employers who abuse and exploit undocumented workers."
So it would appear that not only is ICE the one who should be investigating any wrongdoing on Solais' part, but also on the part of her employer, whom it seems would not have underpaid Solais unless he assumed she was an undocumented worker, assuming Solais' allegations are true.
Furthermore, Solais reportedly has a daughter, and she claims that her employer tried to get her to back down from her complaint by using what sounds like a veilied threat against her and her daughter.
Based on Solais's reported testimony she worked very hard, apparently to help support herself and her child, and her employer took advantage of her, and it was cruel as well as unlawful for the local police to jail this single, hard-working mother.
Whatever the facts of the case, based on the 2012 Supreme Court Ruling, it is the job of ICE, not the Roxboro Police to investigate and file charges, and we insist that the charges against Solais be dropped.
