ICE Crackdowns Are Changing Workplaces: 37% of Americans Report Feeling Less Safe at Work

The threat of immigration enforcement actions has made employees feel less safe at work, a recent survey found. 

Nearly two in five U.S. workers said their sense of safety at work has been affected by an increase in activity by U.S. Immigrant and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to data from EMCI Wireless. The survey only included U.S. citizen respondents, according to its methodology.

The sense of heightened ICE activity isn't imaginary. Immigration enforcement during President Donald Trump's second term has in fact included widely publicized ICE raids and deportations, greater enforcement of border crossing, and cancelations of some immigrants' temporary protected status.

What a diminished sense of safety can mean in practice is employees not showing up for work out of fear of a potential ICE raid, leading to higher turnover and lost revenue for businesses. That’s according to Joycelyn David, a multicultural communications and marketing expert. 

“Those are real impacts to businesses who lose productivity, who lose revenue, who lose projects because of that,” David told Investopedia. “Turnover and absenteeism is definitely a direct negative impact.”

Brian Turmail, a spokesperson for the Associated General Contractors of America, has heard the same thing from the commercial builders his organization represents. 

“The overwhelming response that we're getting is that there's a lot of anxiety among the workforce,” Turmail told NPR in July.

Turmail added, “I got a call from one of the chapters in Texas, [where someone] said that we had an enforcement activity at a [member's] project. And it turned out that the ICE individuals there were looking for a specific person, someone that allegedly was engaged in additional criminal activity. But the fact that ICE showed up to a job site meant the next day, a large portion of the workforce didn't show on that job site and didn't show on three adjacent job sites.”

Turmoil acknowledged that those situations were the exception, rather than the rule. Much of immigration enforcement is targeted at day laborers, who often look for construction work in Home Depot parking lots and other locations, he said. 

What Employers Can Do

Daniel Brown, an immigration attorney at the Fragomen law firm, said there are a number of “proactive steps” firms can take to prepare for potential ICE enforcement action and support their employees. 

First, businesses should conduct internal reviews of employees’ I-9 forms and temporary work authorizations, and take any necessary steps to keep those documents current, Brown said. Second, companies need to have a plan in place in case ICE does conduct an audit. 

“Clear protocols should be in place so staff know how to greet and respond to ICE officers during visits," Brown said. "Together, these measures help maintain compliance, reduce risk and support employees while keeping operations running smoothly.” 

And when it comes to helping workers feel safe, communications and marketing expert David said employers need to embrace the diversity of their workforce.

“Creating a safe workplace begins with fundamentally understanding as an employer that your workforce is diverse,” David said. Communication with employees, particularly communication amid a crisis, needs to be done with considerations for language barriers, cultural differences, and communication styles, she added. 

“Employers need to have understanding of this in order to, one, retain staff, nurture staff, and obviously help staff through what is obviously affecting not just where they work, but where they live,” she said. 

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The Bottom Line

Nearly two in five U.S. workers said ICE activity has affected their sense of safety at work. Experts say heightened immigration enforcement action have led to absenteeism and turnover in the workforce. Employers can take steps to ensure they are compliant with current immigration regulations while also helping employees feel safer.