I’m an immigrant. I’m a worker. And I chose to fight back against abusive employers.

By Reyna Sorto

Reyna Sorto was an employee at Tito Contractors for over ten years. Tito illegally fired Reyna for being involved in union organizing. This is her story.

I’m an immigrant. I’m a worker. I chose to fight back against my abusive employer. And up until a few months ago, I believed that the U.S. government didn’t want to protect my right to do that. They didn’t care if immigrant workers were fighting to recover stolen wages, stop sexual harassment, or organize their workplaces to stop bad employers from lowering standards in their industries. I believed this because I saw what happened when my coworkers and I tried to expose our boss, who wanted to take advantage of us precisely because we were immigrants. That’s when the threats began. They threatened to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on our families. The government listened but did nothing to stop Tito.

There are millions of workers like me. There are countless workplaces where this exact situation plays out. Workers want good jobs, but we also want what is best for those around us. We must live with fear because unscrupulous bosses use our immigration status as a weapon against our families and us. It’s just too risky, and we are exposed without safety and protection from the federal government.

Immigrants have always had the right to file labor abuse complaints to the Department of Labor. Since 2011, a written policy has provided labor agencies the power to work with the Department of Homeland Security to protect immigrants from immigration-related retaliation during a labor dispute. The problem is the government agencies never set up a process for immigrant workers to obtain these protections.

I worked for Tito Contractors at a recycling plant in Maryland for over ten years. My coworkers and I were regularly denied overtime pay, forced to work 14 hours a day, and did not receive bathroom breaks. Our supervisors suggested we wear diapers while we worked.

In 2013, my coworkers and I started organizing with the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT). Immediately, Tito threatened to call ICE if we didn’t stop organizing. Tito knew many organizing workers were undocumented. The company hired those workers because they knew the workers’ immigration status and made it easier to exploit them. One month after we began our efforts, Tito fired several workers for organizing, myself included.

Shortly after, my coworkers and I filed a case against Tito for illegally retaliating against us with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The NLRB took our case and tried to get protections for us based upon immigration-based retaliation, but they ran into tremendous obstacles trying to do so.

We were left vulnerable and fearful for eight long years. Last year the Biden administration finally granted my coworkers and me deferred action and work permits in the final stages of our NLRB case. We won, and the NLRB secured $250,000 in back wages for us from an employer who said we didn’t deserve a cent.

I’m one of the lucky ones. Winning deferred action and work permits, and later our NLRB case, was huge. It meant Tito was held responsible for their actions. It meant my coworkers no longer had to live in fear.

But the gains we made aren’t limited to our workplace or Tito’s workers. When the lowest paid immigrants’ wages rise, so do everyone else’s. When our conditions improve, it helps to normalize safe working conditions across industries. When the most exploited workers in America organize for a voice on-the-job, every worker in America wins.

This campaign is bigger than Tito’s workers. As my coworker said, “What we have been doing has all been for justice, for calling attention to our rights.” Our fight is for all workers in America.

The solution to this problem is simple: the federal government needs to use the power granted to them and create a straightforward process for immigrant workers to obtain labor and immigration protections. The Biden administration and DOL need to implement immediate immigration protections for any worker speaking out about employer abuse. When workers file a complaint, they should receive a letter from the DOL protecting workers from ICE, outlining the workers’ rights, and providing all the necessary information to apply for immigration protections.

This solution is there, but the federal government is largely ignoring it. They must act now. They must prevent millions of immigrants from experiencing the fear and exploitation I experienced for years.