In January this year, the Department of Homeland Security announced a process to allow workers who aren't citizens to report exploitative employers without fear of being deported.
The guidelines allow undocumented workers to apply for relief from immigration enforcement, and a work permit, if they are involved in an investigation into violations of labor law.
At a press conference in Santa Fe on Dec. 1, the immigrant activist group Somos Un Pueblo Unido introduced the first worker in New Mexico to benefit from the new system: Mariana Gomez, originally from Guatemala, said that after she was underpaid at her job in a store in 2021, she filed a claim with the Department of Workforce Solutions.
While the investigation is ongoing, Somos Un Pueblo Unido helped her apply to the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services for protection against immigration enforcement in May this year. Then, in October, she said she received a worker's permit and a Social Security card. This deferred action status is typically good for two years.
Secretary for the state Department of Workforce Solutions, Sarita Nair, said the department welcomed the initiative. She said that being able to extend immigration protection to people cooperating with an investigation was vital in making sure that people got paid fairly, no matter their immigration status
"I want to thank everybody who's come forward with a wage claim not just for protecting your own interests, but for protecting the rights of all workers," she said.
From the Mexican consulate in Albuquerque, Ana María del Carmen Méndez Piña also spoke at the press conference to encourage any Mexicans with labor rights disputes to take advantage of free legal counseling available through the consulate.
