Michigan immigrants: heightened concerns
By Stacy Gittleman
Elizabeth Orozco-Orozco-Vasquez, executive director of Freedom House in Detroit, has seen it all before and, in the coming months, expects to see it all over again.
Someone arrives at the door of Michigan’s only immigrant shelter equipped to house documented asylum seekers. They may be by themselves or in a group. They most likely want to head to designated sanctuary cities known worldwide as iconographic emblems of American culture – New York, Los Angeles or Chicago. They also have sanctuary city status meaning they give extra protections to migrants. Instead, they wound up in Detroit. Though not officially a sanctuary city, this secondary city on the list of refugee destinations is expected to see a rise in refugee arrivals by 43 percent this year.
At first, they hope to find a place to stay with a friend, family member, or distant connection who has already gone through the immigration process from South or Central America, Africa, or the Middle East. As a last resort, they wind up at this increasingly overburdened non-profit organization.
“Immigrant communities tend to be quiet, private ones who try their hardest to look after their own,” Orozco-Vasquez explains. “But when that burden becomes too heavy, that’s when our clients arrive at our door. We started seeing people come into us in quite large groups for us,” Orozco-Vasquez said. “When we began (around 2013), Freedom House had one location and 30 beds. Now, with three locations in Detroit, we can house, sleep, and provide services for up to 250 documented asylum seekers.”
On the first day of his second term in the White House, President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to begin the deportation of what he estimates are up to 20 million people who are in this country illegally. That’s twice the population of New York City. The fear that this draconian practice will return, using members of the military and law enforcement, along with painful family separations, and this time to an even more severe level than last – are very real, Orozco-Vasquez and other immigration experts lament. Right now, they are trying to prepare their clients as best they can as they play the waiting game.
“We are trying to prepare as much as possible to provide humanitarian assistance because this is not a political issue for us,” Orozco-Vasquez says.
Our nation’s immigration system has constantly shifted and changed ever since the 1790 Naturalization Act.
According to a 2015 Pew Study on the history of immigration in America, this country went through phases of first accepting only immigrants from northern Europe, then in the 1900s shifting to southern Europe. Immigration restrictions began to crumble when in 1943 limited numbers of Chinese were allowed to immigrate. In the 1950s, this immigration phase expanded to other Asians. Then came the breakthrough 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act which favored family reunification and skilled immigrants rather than country quotas. The law also imposed the first limits on immigration from the Western Hemisphere. Before then, Latin Americans had been allowed to enter the U.S. without many restrictions.
Immigration laws in the decades to follow focused on people fleeing war and the United States saw waves of immigrants from China, Vietnam, Nicaragua and Haiti.
A June 2024 report outlining immigration basics from the American Immigration Council, noted the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), the set of laws governing U.S. immigration policy. The policy centers around the reunification of families. Admitting immigrants with skills valuable to the U.S. economy, providing humanitarian protections, and promoting diversity.
Annually, the INA grants up to 675,000 permanent immigrant visas across various visa categories. In addition to those visa grantees, the United States allows immigration to the spouses, parents, and children under the age of 21 of U.S. citizens at an unlimited number.
All these laws, to some extent, upheld the grammar school ideals we were all taught that are engraved on the base of the Statue of Liberty — Emma Lazarus’s poem promising to the world’s huddled masses that the lady in New York Harbor would always lift her lamp beside the Golden Door.
That kind of idealism seemed nowhere to be found in the last election. Any discussion of a pathway to citizenship had been replaced by the promise of mass sweeps and deportations.
And for President-elect Donald Trump, it worked. He won the election by making the underside of immigration his campaign’s cornerstone. He connected the migrant crisis as the bane of everything from the economy to housing, from illegal drug use and overall crime. He campaigned on this even though statistics collected by Pew Research in October 2024 showed that compared to 249,741 migrants attempting to cross the border in December 2023, migrant crossing attempts plummeted in August 2024 by 77 percent to 58,038 encounters with border patrol.
In exit polls conducted by Edison Research, 27 percent of Michigan’s voters said the economy was the most important factor in determining their presidential pick, followed by 17 percent for the abortion issue and 35 percent for the state of democracy. Just 12 percent of this state’s voters said immigration mattered most to them. The exit poll, however, found that 89 percent of Republicans who voted for Trump said immigration was their top issue.
In each generation, anti-immigrant sentiment often comes from a place of fear. In reality, Michigan, with its stagnant population growth, actually needs foreign-born newcomers so we can all pursue that American dream, according to the state’s leading immigrant advocates.
According to a May 2024 study by the American Immigration Council, in partnership with the Michigan Global Talent Coalition, in 2022 immigrants in the state held $23.1 billion in spending power, paid $5.5 billion in federal taxes, and paid $2.6 billion in state and local taxes.
The report also revealed that in 2022, there were over 687,000 new Americans in Michigan, making up 6.9 percent of the state’s population. Immigrants represented 8.4 percent of Michigan’s working-age population and employed labor force. In 2022, immigrant households in the state earned $31.3 billion in income and contributed $67.8 billion to the area’s gross domestic product (GDP), or 9.9 percent of the total GDP for that year.
For the voters who placed the economy as their top concern, the process and operation of deporting millions of migrants will cost the taxpayer $315 billion, according to an October 2024 report from the American Immigration Council. And that’s a conservative estimate, it warns.
One organization that promotes the economic catalytic power of welcoming immigrants to Michigan is Global Detroit. Founded in 2010 by the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce, the nonprofit hopes to shape immigration policy in the state by providing data that shows how immigrants benefit the overall quality of life here.
According to Global Detroit’s Executive Director Steve Tobocman, immigrants can fill the void of the state’s slow growth in attracting residents and therefore can stave off the brain drain and spark the state’s economy.
“Bringing immigrants into Detroit’s neighborhoods can help stabilize the city, reduce crime, and then grow populations and therefore the economy back into the city’s neighborhoods,” said Tobocman. “If we are to have healthy conditions for startups in Michigan, we need skilled people who are engineers and computer scientists. We need electrical engineers and software developers. There is demonstrated evidence that, statistically, immigrants greatly contribute to all of these fields.”
Partnering with Global Detroit is the Michigan Global Talent Initiative. A first-of-its-kind state program in the nation launched in 2023 by Governor Gretchen Whitmer, the initiative seeks to retain immigrants who have attained a secondary or post-secondary education by employing them throughout the state. To integrate immigrants, the state has stepped up English as a Second Language (ESL) credentials and offerings and is building more inclusive community colleges for those learning English.
According to Global Detroit, Michigan is home to 300,000 children in immigrant families, over 70,000 of whom are currently in high school. Among high school kids in immigrant families, 50 percent are Asian or Pacific Islander, Black or African American, or of Latin background. Over 40 percent are Arab-American.
At the college level, Global Detroit reported that six community college districts serve 75 percent of those families. Four of those are in southeast Michigan. While comparable numbers of parents in immigrant families have a bachelor’s degree and a significant number have an advanced degree, 22 percent of parents in immigrant families do not have a high school diploma, compared to five percent in U.S.-born families. The English language proficiency of most parents is very high, though most also speak another language. Still, 46 percent of immigrant parents are considered limited in their mastery of English.
Tobocman pointed to the May 2024 study published by the American Immigration Council released at last year’s summer policy conference in Mackinac Island. It concluded that the influx of new Americans to Michigan is crucial to stave off the state’s talent and brain drain.
Some basic takeaways of the study showed that even during this last decade of anti-immigrant sentiments and policies, immigrants accounted for 58 percent of the state’s population growth.
New Americans in Michigan contributed 57.7 percent of the state’s population growth over the last decade. In 2022, immigrants represented 18.6 percent of Michigan’s workers in science, technology, engineering, and math. Immigrants comprised 28.2 percent of all the software developers and 24.3 percent of Michigan’s mechanical engineers.
The report also highlighted that in 2022, there were 46,200 immigrant entrepreneurs whose businesses generated $1.4 billion in business income. All this was accomplished by a demographic that comprises just 6.9 percent of the state’s total population.
Tobocman warned that without this immigrant population growth, Michigan would face dire consequences, such as a sharp population decline in rural and urban communities.
“We cannot afford to lose tens of thousands of people in this state through deportations,” he said. “Whether they are documented or undocumented, migrants are crucial contributors to the state’s economy. It is foolish to think that it’s going to help us if we deport them. It will hurt us; it will hurt companies and the state’s economic future. The last election showed that people fell for the distortions that immigrants put a drain on our economy. But the contributions immigrants make prove the opposite.”
Tobocman added that Trump’s anti-immigrant campaign crystalized around many unfounded fears and misconceptions about immigrants, one being that they take government resources away from United States citizens.
“Many have been led to believe that undocumented migrants are stealing public benefits,” Tobocman said. “The reality is that undocumented migrants do not qualify for any public benefits at all.”
Back at Freedom House, Orozco-Vasquez said some of her clients would burst into tears when they learned that although they were documented, they still had to wait months to get their working permit approved.
Freedom House’s mission is to assist documented asylum seekers, humanitarian parolees, and refugees, as they navigate the legal process and work towards self-sufficiency.
The ultimate goal, Orozco-Vasquez explained, is to help these refugees become self-sufficient and transition into permanent housing within 18 months of their arrival. At this, Freedom House boasts a 90 percent success rate.
“After they get their work authorization, we work quickly to find them jobs and most do so within three months. Then we set goals for saving up enough money to move out and find housing,” Orozco-Vasquez said.
During their stay at Freedom House, migrants receive a range of services to help them acclimate to life in the United States. This includes English language classes, legal assistance with asylum cases, and help enrolling their children in school. Freedom House will also facilitate medical and forensics exams to document signs of torture and abuse, something that up to 80 percent of the refugees at Freedom House have endured, said Orozco-Vasquez.
According to data from the U.S. Department of State, in 2023, 2,583 refugees arrived in Michigan. That’s a 42 percent increase from 2022. Of this number, 642 refugees were placed in Kent County, 540 in Oakland County, 451 in Wayne, and 300 each in Ingham and Kalamazoo counties. In 2024, the state anticipated 9,000 new arrivals, a 42 percent increase from the previous year.
Of approved refugee arrivals, 36 percent are from Syria, 30 percent from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and seven percent are from Iraq. However, the majority of the influx, officials say, are asylum seekers who the state cannot track.
As overburdened as Freedom House finds itself, Orozco-Vasquez said she and her staff were encouraged. At least the Biden administration was giving these refugees a fighting chance.
“When asylum-seeking migrants are documented from the point of entry, it allows them to eventually legally enter the workforce and contribute to American society and pay taxes with a work authorization,” she said. “This allows America to gain laborers and workers we never had or we are losing to aging and retirement. Work authorizations allow refugees to participate in our tax system and to be put into the Social Security system. Some may never even benefit from the taxes they are putting into our system because they may ultimately wind up returning to their country of origin, a place they did not want to leave in the first place.”
She continued: “What will happen in another Trump administration is that people will still make their way through but in illegal ways with no control and no records. To top it off, if Trump has his way, our government will not be giving migrants the path to work authorization, resulting in another economic crisis and severe exploitations for the working class.”
Orozco-Vasquez said her organization is bracing for more family separations just as they saw during the first Trump administration. To this day, there are still about 1,500 children of migrants somewhere in the United States foster care system who have not been identified or reunited with their parents, stemming back from the first Trump administration.
“Those parents were promised that if they just signed some paperwork promising they would never seek asylum or employment or anything else from the United States and go back to their country of origin, their children would be returned to them,” Orozco-Vasquez said. “And many of them out of desperation signed it. Then they were deported. There was no system to track which child belonged with which parent as (the children) were spread to different locations across the country.”
Orozco-Vasquez continued: “We ripped those children away from their parents, and that was all during the Trump administration. There is no reason we should have access to those children, and yet we still do. I fear that this is the situation we are going to open back up again.”
In the last election, immigration was a sticking point even for first-generation Americans, who expressed resentment that they took the proper channels and waited years before legally becoming citizens. The point of contention, and what this country yet has to resolve, is how to deal with the growing number of refugees and asylum seekers.
According to the U.S. Department of State’s Refugee Processing Center, over the past 50 years, the United States resettled over three million refugees. Each year, the president is required to consult with Congress and set an annual number of refugees to be admitted to the United States through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.
After September 11, 2001, the number of refugees admitted into the United States fell drastically. After the Bush administration put new security checks in place, annual refugee admissions returned to their previous levels which rose during the Obama administration. During the Trump administration, the refugee ceiling fell sharply, from 110,000 in 2017 to 45,000 in 2018 and 30,000 in 2019. In 2020, the ceiling was set at an all-time low of 18,000 — although only 11,814 were admitted. This was the smallest annual number of refugees since the system was created in 1980.
The 2021 limit was first set at 15,000 by Trump, but the incoming Biden administration raised it to 62,000. The Democrats from 2021 to 2024 set the annual ceiling of refugees to 125,000. Additionally, the Biden administration created a new Priority 2 category for certain Iraqi, Afghan and Syrian refugees.
Refugee arrivals during the 2023 fiscal year dramatically outpaced the prior two years, reaching over 60,000 from October 2022 to September 2023. In September 2024, the greatest number of refugees admitted by the U.S. came from Venezuela, Afghanistan and Congo.
According to State Department statistics, from September 2024, the top 10 origin countries of refugees who arrived in Michigan were: Syria (222); Congo (98); Iraq (41); Venezuela (90); Myanmar (36); Sudan (23); Afghanistan (19); Yemen (19); Guatemala: (14); and the Republic of South Sudan (9). Since October 2023, the number of refugees Michigan absorbed includes 1,186 from Syria; and 862 from Congo.
According to Michigan immigration experts, in 2016, Michigan was the fourth largest state for refugee resettlement, taking in more than 30,000 arrivals over the previous decade. As of 2021, undocumented immigrants accounted for 1.2 percent of Michigan’s population, according to the Pew Research Center analysis.
Once a person is granted an immigrant visa or receives certain other eligible protections, such as asylum or refugee status, they can apply to become a lawful permanent resident.
Individuals arriving on immigrant visas become lawful permanent residents when they arrive in the United States. After residing in the United States for three to five years, they are eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship. These lawful permanent residents are not required to apply for U.S. citizenship and are eligible to apply for employment. They are allowed to live here permanently so long as they adhere to immigration laws.
While many carry the misconception that immigrants are taking away job opportunities, it is difficult for undocumented migrants to be legally employed. Fill out any job application and you need to check boxes about U.S. citizenship or legal eligibility to work in the United States.
The United States offers 20 types of temporary work visas, allowing U.S. employers to hire and petition foreign nationals for specific jobs for set periods. They run the gamut from athletes and entertainers, religious workers and diplomatic employees, and high-skilled engineers and other technical workers. The United States allows up to 140,000 permanent employment-based immigrants annually plus their eligible spouses and minor unmarried children.
For the most highly skilled foreign worker or recent foreign college graduates, many compete for the highly-coveted HB1 visa. This type of visa is bestowed to small, highly skilled workers in Michigan mostly through the automotive industry. General Motors in 2022 granted 794 of this type of visas compared to 233 in 2015. In a mirror comparison, the Ford Motor Company issued 85 such visas in 2015 and 969 in 2022.
An undocumented individual is someone who arrives through an irregular port of entry, meaning they were not stopped at any checkpoint. There is no official record of their presence in the United States, or they may have overstayed a visa.
Data from the American Community Survey says that up to 11 million people in this country as of 2022 lacked permanent legal status and faced the possibility of removal. U.S. census figures from 2019, in an analysis by the Migrant Policy Institute, suggest an estimated 90,000 undocumented residents live in Michigan.
To devise a deportation operation, Trump is now threatening to overstep the rights of governors in taking control of the National Guard system, typically deployed at the will of the governor, to get the job done.
At Wayne State University’s Asylum and Immigration Law Clinic, Director Sabrina Balgamwalla described herself as tense and anxious about the incoming administration’s proposals of mass sweeps and deportations. These days, Balgamwalla is increasingly in touch with colleagues running similar law clinics in other parts of the country to prepare for whatever may come next. The most important thing, they agreed, is to offset their clients’ fears.
“We have always talked, but now we talk more than ever,” Balgamwalla said. “We have come to the understanding that when we scare people, we are participating in the upcoming administration’s game of psychological warfare. We are trying to respond swiftly and mindfully to our clients in a way that does not cause unnecessary panic.”
At the WSU clinic, Balgamwalla said high-level law students under the guidance of faculty steeped in knowledge of immigration law are working on securing extended work or student visas. They are processing paperwork so immigrant students and faculty can temporarily travel back home to visit families, attend a wedding or a funeral, or be there for the birth of a grandchild. If possible, the law clinic advised clients to have finished traveling abroad before the inauguration.
“The most difficult challenge is all the uncertainty,” Balgamwalla said. “Until Trump steps into the White House and unleashes his immigration policy, all my clinicians can do is to advise their clients about making sure their documentation is up to date and positioning those who are closest to attaining their immigration status to take on all the proper venues as quickly as possible. In the worst-case scenarios, we are preparing our clients for the possibility of workplace sweeps and family separations.”
Balgamwalla said Trump in his last administration attempted sudden policy changes that were battled in the courts because they did not follow any regulatory processes. On the first day of his administration, for example, Trump implemented the Muslim travel ban without giving any advance notice to immigration or border crossing officials. Chaos ensued, followed by lawsuits. Trump’s most widely used tactic, which more is expected, is unleashing fear and panic in non-citizen communities.
Even though there was less fear about deportation during the Biden administration, Balgamwalla said Trump crippled the immigration system and departments like US Citizenship and Immigration Services so badly that they remain hamstrung to this day. They have become inefficient in processing extensions for work and student visas. There are fewer immigration personnel to process immigration requests.
“Immigration processing has slowed way, way down,” she lamented. “There used to be a time when one could predict how long it would take to renew a work or student visa. Now, it’s anyone’s guess. We are expecting the immigration process to become much more difficult with more restrictions and higher fees. Things are going to be much harder. Everything is tied to things that the (executive branch) can do in terms of running the immigration and naturalization agencies.”
Echoing the WSU Law Clinic’s fears is the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC), which provides legal services to low-income immigrants, including farm workers, unaccompanied minors, and those in detention. During the Trump administration, MIRC faced challenges with frequent policy changes and to the child separation policy. Preparing for a potential new Trump administration, MIRC advises immigrants to familiarize themselves with their rights, obtain documents, and consider renewing Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) status.
Basing her opinions for the coming Trump administration on the first time around, Christine Suavé, the center’s director of policy, engagement, and communications, said her staff is bracing themselves for another four years of chaos in the immigration system and maybe even worse.
“We assist folks who are in detention and facing deportation,” Suavé said. “The previous Trump administration was a very hectic, tense, fearful time. Policies at the federal level would change very frequently.”
Then came the child separations. Suavé echoed the worries of Freedom House about the prospect of family and child separations and foreign-born children who will be lost in our country’s broken foster care system. This time around, it could be even worse.
“We know from experience what’s at stake and what’s on the table here,” Suavé said. “When we hear the Trump administration is now looking to conduct mass deportations, we’re taking them at their word. We are watching the policies they are building and we are preparing ourselves and our clients as much as we can.”
Part of this preparation includes an extensive list of tips and fact sheets translated in multiple languages that help migrants understand their rights.
MIRC staff advise clients on everything from making multiple copies of all passports and documentation papers and leaving some with a trusted friend, planning consultations with an immigration attorney to learn about immigration and naturalization eligibility, and even staying away from driving near the Blue Water or Ambassador bridges.
For those with children, MIRC suggests making a separation plan in case they are detained and if possible, trying to attain dual citizenship for them. MIRC also advises clients to know the difference between immigration attorneys and fraudulent notarios who prey on migrants but are not qualified to prepare immigration filings.
When it comes to dealing with Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE), MIRC instructs clients on their rights. They have a right not to open the door to immigration enforcement officials or law enforcement unless they have a warrant signed by a judge. If the door is opened at all, ICE will determine that as granting permission to enter.
Suavé said that deportations happen regardless of which party controls the White House. Dubbed by immigration officials and critics from the left and the right as the deporter in chief, President Barack Obama deported more than 2.5 million individuals from 2009-2015 through executive orders.
However, Suavé said Obama’s Priority Enforcement policy meant that these numbers came from convicted criminals already sitting in the nation’s jails and avoided family separations and deportations of non-violent non-residents.
Suavé explained: “When the Trump administration came into office in 2017, they got rid of that policy. The focus was no longer on the small minority of non-citizens with a criminal record. Instead, it looked to remove the highest number of non-documented migrants by casting a wider net. That was put into place on day one.”
Sauvé predicted that deportation orders could expand beyond undocumented workers who have been convicted of a crime and impact documented members of the labor force where undocumented workers work, including the agricultural and food processing and construction industries. Deportation can happen to workers in the healthcare, construction, manufacturing, nursing, and home healthcare segments.
Suavé said as Michigan’s population stagnates and declines, it is imperative that it welcomes immigrants
“It is in everyone’s best interest to welcome folks into our state,” Suavé said. “Our immigrant populations live all over Michigan. While some are drawn to our more rural communities for farming and agriculture, others are drawn to college and university towns and cities. If these deportations are carried through, I fear we will feel ripple effects all throughout every aspect of living here.”
Trump’s election campaign argued that mass deportations would reduce housing costs for Americans. But economists and housing industry experts warn that widespread deportations, coupled with harsh tariffs on everything from produce to construction and building materials, could make new homes even more expensive.
Tying the immigration crisis to tariffs, Trump shortly before Thanksgiving threatened Mexico and Canada on day one of his administration with a 25 percent tariff on all products coming into the United States and an additional 10 percent tariff on imports from China. Just as in his last two campaigns, he accuses our neighbors to the north and south of not controlling their borders which he and his base believe are the primary cause for increased crime and the fentanyl crisis in the U.S.
If Trump makes good on this campaign promise of tariffs, it will have a dire cause-and-effect dynamic. While Americans voted to curb inflation and grocery prices, these tariffs will hit them even harder with price increases for everything from a new automobile to construction supplies, from Mexican avocados to Canadian hothouse tomatoes and peppers.
Timothy Russell Hodge, Associate Professor of Economics at Oakland University, said the potential impact on Michigan’s housing market and labor force has become a pressing concern. First, the notion that migrants are eating up rental properties and driving rents up because of low rental availability is a myth. Typically, he said, multi-generational immigrant families take up a smaller housing footprint.
What is real is how much construction costs will go up, and how the labor pool of construction workers will shrink. Hodge said that nationally, immigrant workers contribute between 30 to 40 percent of the construction workforce.
“Removing these workers could increase construction costs and reduce supply further,” Hodge explained. “You’re going to have a labor shortage, and then if you couple that with what prices are going to be for lumber thanks to a sharp spike on the tariff rates, it’s going to hurt. American households are going to have to pay an average additional expense of $3,700 to $4,000 per year due to tariffs alone. I know people complained about the price of eggs, but this is really going to hurt.”
A loss of immigrants will have an impact in Michigan where there is a constant shortage of available farmhands. Often, farmers bring in migrants for work on temporary H-2A guest worker visas.
The H-2A program enables the U.S. agricultural sector to hire foreign nationals to temporarily fill agricultural positions. A person with this visa can stay in the United States for three years. After that period, they must exit and remain outside the United States for three months before reapplying for a work visa. An H-2A worker’s spouse and unmarried children under the age of 21 may apply for admission and stay as non-immigrant classifications. Family members are not permitted to work in the United States under this status.
This program does not provide a path to citizenship, making this demographic vulnerable to worker exploitation and can often be abused by employers who can exploit and even threaten undocumented workers who may be subject to unfair working conditions and salaries.
Among its many missions in immigrant advocacy, the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center represents immigrant clients who have been exploited or abused in the agriculture industry in Michigan.
MIRC’s Suavé stated that although it is imperfect, Michigan’s agricultural industry has heavily relied on this temporary guest labor as the primary source for its workforce. Suavé added that workers in this situation face threats when overseers casually mention calling ICE officials if they believe workers aren’t productive enough or if they refuse extra shifts without additional pay.
According to her estimations, there are about 19,000 H-2A farm workers in Michigan. Add in their family members and that could be as many as 100,000 people.
These workers also contribute their manpower to dairy and egg farms. They comprise about 21 percent of the food processing and food chain supply workforce in the state.
“About half these folks are undocumented, so (deporting them) would have a dramatic impact on the labor forces that bring the food to our tables,” Suavé said. “We are already hearing from employers who are having a hard time filling these positions. If more people are deported, fewer people will want to participate in the guest worker program. If the labor force is reduced this way, this is going to have a dramatic increase on the cost of our groceries.”
As an example of what happens when a state cracks down on undocumented workers, Suavé pointed to a recent law that went on the books in Florida. SB 1718 went into effect in July 2023, making it illegal for Floridian farmers to hire undocumented workers. As the law went into effect, Suavé said Floridian farmers began to complain of worker shortages.
“These policies hurt agriculture and our food supplies,” Suavé said. “Agriculture will have to offer higher wages to find workers, and this will ultimately be passed onto the consumer.”
As far as guest workers are concerned, Suavé mentioned the plight of those working in the dairy industry. State law requires that dairy farmers provide housing for their guest workers but it is not regulated by the state, so they may be living in squalid conditions. Those working in agricultural fields live in state-inspected housing. And because workers on dairy farms are needed year-round, workers may find themselves in unheated structures in the cold Michigan winters.
One case that MIRC worked on was in 2018 when several migrant workers died in a house fire on a dairy farm in Mendon while trying to keep warm in an unheated building.
The reason why so many agricultural and construction workers are so vulnerable is that, whether they are documented or not, they are always fearful of the threat of workplace sweeps by ICE. Their fears may ease if they find themselves working or living in sanctuary cities or counties.
According to the Center for Immigration Studies, there are areas in the country – be it a state, county, or city – that do not fully comply with federal immigration enforcement efforts. This is most referred to as a sanctuary city. A city, county, or municipality may pass ordinances designed to protect undocumented immigrants from deportation or prosecution despite federal immigration law. Such places may refuse or prohibit compliance with ICE officials.
Though Michigan is not a sanctuary state, it does have a city and several counties that are designated as sanctuary areas, according to the Center for Immigration Studies. Lansing is Michigan’s only sanctuary city. Ingham, Kalamazoo, Kent and Wayne counties also have this designation.
In southeast Michigan, MIRC’s Suavé stated that cities like Detroit and Ann Arbor have passed ordinances declaring that their law enforcement departments will not coordinate with ICE, and some departments do not honor detainer requests from ICE.
For example, an official mentioned a case in Kent County where, at ICE’s request, law enforcement detained a man who turned out to be a U.S. citizen.
However, as of this January, Suavé expressed concern that areas like Livingston County are heading in the opposite direction and will inquire about immigrant status and documentation from anyone who interacts with their sheriff’s office, which they find “deeply concerning.”
“Local law enforcement is finding ways to disassociate or disengage with the activities of ICE,” Suavé said. “Local law enforcement wishes to focus on gaining the trust of community members to solve local crimes. But some counties are going the opposite direction, and this is something that we are deeply concerned about.”
Local law enforcement officials who usually take the time for interviews with Downtown instead sent terse, direct emailed responses when they were questioned whether or not they would embroil their forces with these proposed deportations.
From the Oakland County Sheriff’s office to Bloomfield Township and the city of Birmingham, officials stated they would not involve themselves in federal affairs of apprehending individuals based on their immigration status. Instead, they will concentrate on local business of upholding the law and preventing, investigating, and apprehending those involved in local crimes.
According to the 2022 Order 7-02 issued by the Michigan State Police, when it comes to immigration violations, state police enforcement members can enforce federal laws but only federal officers can handle civil violations under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
The order states: “State police cannot stop, question, arrest, or detain individuals based solely on suspected immigration violations, such as status, alienage, or personal characteristics. MSP cannot request immigration status proof unless necessary for a criminal investigation.”
The order also states that state law enforcement must not act on immigration administrative warrants or detainers. Any clear immigration law violations are to be referred to the nearest US Customs and Border Protection or Immigration and Customs Enforcement office.
MIRC’s Suavé said this is because local law enforcement traditionally tends to stay out of the affairs of ICE and wants to create a climate in their counties and municipalities that anyone is free to report a crime or seek first responder help regardless of their immigration status.
“Immigration enforcement has been the purview of the federal government, and there’s a lot of reasons for that,” said Suavé. “It has been decided by the courts in multiple cases. And from a practical standpoint, it just makes sense. Local law enforcement often needs the cooperation of folks living in the community to get tips on crimes. If people fear that a local law enforcement agency would report them or contact ICE, they would be less likely to come forward to share information, even if they are victims of a crime.”
