Immigration Law

As an English as a second language teacher at Hollywood Community Adult School, I would like to thank The Times for its educational supplements on the new immigration law. My students need this information. So do their employers. I would like to bring the experience of one of my students to the public’s attention in order to remind employers of the new law’s “grandfather” clause, which states that those employees hired prior to Nov. 6, 1986, are exempt from proving their legal eligibility for work.

One of my ESL students has worked for a fast food restaurant since July, 1986. Nevertheless, he and all the other employees at that restaurant were requested by the manager to fill out Employment Verification Eligibility forms. On the second side of the form it clearly states that employees hired before Nov. 6, 1986, need not fill it out. I pointed this out to my student, who in turn pointed it out to his manager. Her response was that the main office had instructed her to get forms from all of its employees. These instructions from her superiors are wrong. Any firings of employees protected by the grandfather clause will cause unnecessary confusion and hardship for both employees and employer.

Unfortunately, many immigrants have resigned themselves to accept whatever the new immigration law dishes out to them in the guise of firings and deportation. My student said that if he has to return to Guatemala, where he was threatened with death, he will. Employees who are not educated about the new immigration law will accept their employers’ misinformation and misinterpretations of the law.

I encourage The Times to continue educating the public about the new law, and to encourage immigrants to use the free legal help available to them to stop abuses by employers who are still not adequately informed on the law, especially the all-important grandfather clause.

JEAN MARIE RUIZ

Los Angeles