The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) stated in a press release on August 29 that it had signed a national Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United Mexican States. The memorandum, states the release, “is designed to further strengthen their collaborative efforts to provide immigrant, migrant and otherwise vulnerable Mexican workers and their employers with guidance and information and access to education about their rights and responsibilities under the laws enforced by the EEOC.”
EEOC Chair Jacqueline A. Berrien (shown on left) and Eduardo Medina, Mexico’s ambassador to the United States, signed the MOU at EEOC headquarters in Washington, D.C.
“Stopping and remedying unlawful employment discrimination against immigrant, migrant and other vulnerable workers is an EEOC priority,” the release quoted Berrien as saying. “We look forward to continuing the dialogue on ways to stop and remedy discrimination for all workers. We are building on many existing relationships between EEOC offices and Mexican consulates across the country, and are now able to partner with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United Mexican States to protect vulnerable workers throughout the United States of America.”
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Ambassador Medina said, “This Memorandum of Understanding formalizes a fruitful and standing relationship between Mexico and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The joint efforts of the Embassy and the Mexican Consular Network in the United States with the EEOC empower Mexican workers in this country to safeguard their labor rights and stand against employment discrimination.”
A reporter from CNSNews.com e-mailed the EEOC to ask how employers who have broken federal law by hiring illegal aliens can be sued for discrimination under the terms of the memorandum.
Kimberly Smith-Brown, the EEOC’s director of communications, replied to the news organization: “Yes, under federal law, it is illegal for employers to hire undocumented workers. However, when someone does come to us with a complaint, we will assist them with their claim.”
“The EEOC does not ask the documentation status of anyone that comes to our offices,” Smith-Brown continued. “An undocumented worker is afforded the same protections under the law as everyone else.”
In other words, an illegal (“undocumented”) alien, who has no right to be in the United States and has shown a complete disregard for U.S. law by working in this country illegally, is not required to prove otherwise. Instead, the EEOC will spend taxpayer dollars to pursue legal action against the employer suspected of discriminating against them.
In our article yesterday, we wrote about what happens to an employer who may be a bit overly zealous in his attempts to secure documentation from workers to determine if they have the legal right to work in the United States. The U.S. Department of Justice announced in a press release on September 2 that it had “reached an agreement” with Culinaire International, a Houston, Texas-based catering and restaurant management company, resolving a claim that Culinaire had engaged in “citizenship discrimination” during the work eligibility verification process.
Culinaire’s “crime”? According to Acting Assistant Attorney General Molly Moran: “Employers cannot discriminate against workers by requiring them to produce more documents than necessary in the employment eligibility verification and reverification processes.” (Emphasis added.)
Employers cannot legally ask for “more documents than necessary” to establish that a prospective employee can legally work for them, yet the EEOC’s spokeswoman said that her agency “does not ask the documentation status of anyone that comes to our offices.”
With priorities such as these, there is little wonder that our immigration crisis is growing ever more out of control.
Related article:
Justice Dept. Fines Company for “Citizenship Discrimination”
