Some Firings Reported as Immigration Sanctions Hit

There were scattered reports Tuesday of employees being fired in Southern California, as well as continuing confusion among workers and employers, as the employer sanctions in the new U.S. immigration law went into effect.

Alex Snack Foods in Anaheim was one of several small and medium-size employers that have either begun laying off employees or issuing deadlines for workers to submit documents showing that they have a legal right to work in the United States, according to spokesmen.

Some of those fired are immigrants who do not qualify for amnesty and are therefore ineligible for work permits because they arrived in the United States after Jan. 1, 1982. Others qualify for amnesty but have not yet received the necessary documents from the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Tuesday was the deadline for aliens hired after Nov. 6 of last year to submit proof of work authorization papers given to them by INS.

Grandfather Clause

Employees hired before Nov. 6, 1986, are grandfathered into the new law, so employers can legally maintain them on their payrolls without documentation.

The employer sanctions portion of the law technically went into effect July 1, but INS said it would not begin a major enforcement effort until Sept. 1.

About two dozen Alex Foods workers were sent home Tuesday because they were unable to produce documents proving their work eligibility, plant manager Mike Morales said.

Morales said that, while the workers were technically fired, they were promised their jobs back once they obtained the proper papers. The snack food manufacturer employs about 250 people.

“In some cases,” he said, “the INS simply has not processed their applications, and they should receive a new employment card in a week or two. At that point, “we will welcome them back with open arms.”

Garth Ward, president of Fashion Sportswear Inc. of South El Monte, which manufactures girls’ clothing, said he “probably has” 14 people who have been fired “as of today.”

“These are people who probably are eligible for amnesty but haven’t received their receipts yet,” Ward said, adding that he will rehire them if they bring in the proper documentation soon.

“We’ve had reports of a whole bunch of people scheduled to be terminated that we’re trying to check out,” said Cesar Reyes, field organizer for the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America in Los Angeles.

One such worker is Carlos, a Mexican machine operator from the San Fernando Valley who spoke on the condition that his full name and that of his employer not be used, because he still hopes to regain his old job.

Couldn’t Get Papers

“Yesterday was my last day,” he said. “I have lived here since 1978, and I applied for amnesty, but I hadn’t gotten my papers yet because of the backup at the church office where I applied. But they said I needed the official papers by today, and I couldn’t get them.”

Jay Fong, an attorney with the Asian Pacific Legal Foundation who is familiar with Carlos’ case, said there are many such immigrants who, because of backups at legal offices that are processing amnesty files, may lose their jobs.

“The worst result is that people who are getting laid off or fired will then find it hard to get amnesty because under the law they look like they could become public charges, which disqualifies them for amnesty,” he said.

William Carroll, acting deputy district director of INS in Los Angeles, said: “When it comes to someone hired after Nov. 6 who has no standing in this country and has not applied for amnesty, we highly recommend that an employer dismiss that person.”

But, he added, INS is not going to make a point of going after employees who have applied for amnesty but do not have papers.

Officials at INS offices in Santa Ana said they received calls from employers Tuesday asking about the new rules. George Newland, the agency’s chief legalization officer in Orange County, said that “there appears to be a lot of misunderstanding and confusion, . . . and we’ve had some employers threaten to lay off employees.”

However, he said he was unaware of any “mass firings,” adding, “I can only hope nobody goes to those extremes.”

Advises Employers

John M. Hermann, president of Total Employee Relations Services Inc., a Costa Mesa-based labor consulting business, said he was advising employers that they had little choice but to dismiss workers lacking documentation.

Estimating that several thousand workers could still lose jobs in Orange County, Hermann called Tuesday the “saddest day” in his 15 years of consulting. “A lot of families are going to be hurt,” he said.

In Irvine, labor contractor Arturo Espinoza said he told 50 of his workers last Friday that he could no longer represent them because they did not have proper papers and would not qualify for the amnesty program.

“It hurts,” he said. “These are good men who work hard. Most have gone back to Mexico, but some are trying to find work in Fresno or Modesto. But the law is closing in up there too.”

Because of the new laws, Espinoza said he has decided to retire this month after 25 years as a labor contractor.

One INS critic, the Rev. Luis Madrigal of World Relief of Southern California in Garden Grove, said the federal agency should take the blame for layoffs resulting from the new work rules.

Madrigal’s group is one of several private groups assisting illegal immigrants applying for amnesty.

“They did a good job educating employers but failed to reach the workers to help them understand that unless they come forward their families would go hungry,” Madrigal said.

In Orange and Los Angeles counties, representatives of some large employers, including hotel chains, said they had been gearing up for the Sept. 1 employer sanctions deadline by demanding documents in advance and did not fire anyone.

Stan Kyker, executive vice president of the California Restaurant Assn., said he had gotten countless calls from restaurant owners who feel “caught in the middle” between a desire to comply with the law and a loathing to fire good workers.

“I have not heard of anyone who has laid anyone off,” he said. “But there really are a lot of people in turmoil.”

He said restaurants are hesitant to fire for two reasons: They are already having difficulty finding replacement workers, and “the measure of risk is not great enough at this stage for INS to come check them.”

Staff writers Stephen Braun and Henry Weinstein contributed to this report.