Latino Activists Protest Sears Policy of Refusing to Hire Illegal Aliens

Latino and church activists picketed an East Los Angeles Sears, Roebuck store Friday to protest what they called the company’s “mean-spirited” policy of denying employment to illegal aliens, even if they are eligible for amnesty.

The protest was focused on the cases of three illegal alien women who were denied employment at the Olympic Boulevard store because they have not established legal residence, even though they expect to qualify for amnesty under the new immigration law.

Organizers said that many illegal aliens who should qualify for amnesty face similar difficulties finding employment, and that Sears and other companies should change their employment policies.

Seeking Amnesty

The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service has announced that until Sept. 1, illegal aliens seeking employment may be legally authorized to work simply by signing a declaration that they believe they qualify for amnesty and intend to apply for it. The INS will begin accepting applications May 5.

This policy--which protects employers from the new law’s sanctions against knowingly hiring illegal aliens--was incorporated into a court settlement between the federal agency and a coalition of immigrant rights groups in U.S. District Court in Sacramento last month.

Friday’s demonstration, which drew about 35 protesters from half a dozen activist organizations and the Dolores Mission Church, was aimed at winning permanent employment for the three individual workers, and also at drawing attention to the new rules.

‘Only the Beginning’

“We did it in order to educate people about the fact that the victory in the court . . . is only the beginning in this battle,” said Antonio Rodriguez, director of the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice. “It is necessary to take the message to the employers, and it is especially necessary to take the message to employers who, despite the law, continue to implement archaic and inhumane policies that impact on our community.”

Gordon P. Knight, general manager at the Sears facility where the demonstration took place, said that for many years the company’s policy has been to hire aliens only if they can prove legal residence.

Two of the women who were the focus of the demonstration--Maria de Lourdes Placencia and Yesenia Vargas--had done “such a super job for us” as workers provided by a temporary employment agency that the store offered them permanent jobs in February, Knight said.

“After offering them jobs, we went through the normal paper work, and they didn’t have the necessary papers to support their residency,” Knight said. “We felt very badly when they couldn’t come up with the correct documentation.”

Following Orders

Knight said the local store was simply following instructions from corporate headquarters that “we’re in trouble if we hire people other than those who are documented.”

Knight said he understands that company policy may be changed to reflect the regulations of the new immigration law, but that he has not yet received any new instructions.

Alicia Chacon-Zamora, the third woman denied employment, said that she was hired last month after stating that she was applying for legalization. She was later asked for documentation and provided a letter from Catholic Charities stating that she had registered to apply for amnesty, she said. But two days later, she said, she was told that she was being terminated because she was not a legal resident.

Duke Austin, an INS spokesman in Washington, said Friday that the agency will be distributing to employers 8.2 million copies of a brochure explaining all aspects of the complicated amnesty law.

But this does not mean that the agency is telling corporations that they need to change their policies and start hiring undocumented aliens, he said.

“It’s never been our contention that we’re going to encourage people to hire undocumented aliens,” Austin said. Companies “have the right” to hire illegal aliens under these rules “but we’re not telling them who they must hire,” he said.