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Luis Zavala knew something had gone wrong when he saw the gun pointed at him.

The 45-year-old construction worker in Louisiana, and about two dozen others in his crew, had gathered in the small town of Kenner, on the outskirts of New Orleans, where he believed they were about to be given unpaid wages owed by their boss.

The move was set to bring an end to a bitter dispute, and their employer had told them to gather at a car park in front of an apartment complex. But instead of meeting him, they were surrounded by armed police and officers from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.

Zavala, who was waiting in his car when the violent raid began, found himself dragged outside his vehicle, cuffed and laid out on the ground. "They came very aggressively, with their guns pointed. They threw me on the floor. They put their foot on my back. It was very terrifying," Zavala told the Guardian.

Zavala and his colleagues had just run up against a brutal truth that affects more than 11 million undocumented migrants who work in the shadowy low-wage depths of the American economy: speaking up against an employer who abuses you can get you arrested and deported.

Millions of workers like Zavala toil in industries like construction, casual day labour, agriculture or the food industry across America and, as Zavala and many others have found, standing up and complaining can result in an employer reporting them to the immigration authorities.

Experts point out that some employers are all too eager to take on undocumented workers and exploit them for their willingness to work long hours for low pay. If no one complains, questions about immigration papers are rarely asked. But if problems do arise - such as being injured on the job or workers demanding better pay or access to a union - a swift phone call to the police or ICE will result in the difficult employees being deported.

"Employers use this as a huge club against workers who stand up for themselves," said Rebecca Smith, an expert at the National Employment Law Project, which campaigns on various worker abuse issues in the US.

Smith recently co-authored a study of the phenomenon for NELP called Workers Rights on ICE, which chronicled many recent cases where the threat of deportation had been used against workers who tried to unionise or complained about safety standards or had their wages stolen. But Smith believes that because most victims are either deported or afraid of being deported the vast majority of incidents taking place in America simply never come to light. "It is the tip of an iceberg," she said.

But some do speak out. One is Felipe Villareal, a former car-wash worker from Mexico who has been in the US since 2000. Like many undocumented workers he was willing to do a job that American workers did not want and certainly not for such little cash. Villareal worked amid the chemical fumes and hot water of a mechanised car wash in Culver City, California, often just for tips. "There was a lack of safety protection. They use a lot of toxic chemicals that get on your skin and your lungs," he said.

Villareal was fired when he complained about his low wages, but instead of saying nothing, he launched an unfair labour practice complaint that forced his reinstatement. But it was then that his employer suddenly decided he needed to go through the Department of Homeland Security's E-verify system in order to get his job back. Villareal, who declines to discuss his immigration status, believes there was only one reason for bringing in the new rule at a company that until then had asked few questions. "I believe that they used the immigration threat for people like me who spoke out. It gives employers power over their workers," he said.

Sometimes that power is brutally explicit. In Austin, Texas, Antonio Campos Lozano and five of his fellow construction workers had gone unpaid by their boss. They had worked night shifts doing building work in a local mall and then often worked through the day elsewhere around the city for the same man.

"Sometimes you don't go home. You just get ready for the next shift. We work for our families. That's the main reason. We have bills to pay and families to support," he said.

But then their boss refused to pay them, and the crew reported the local businessman to a workers' rights group which took legal action.

Astonishingly, Lozano then started getting text messages from the man threatening deportation to the entire crew. "I am going to do whatever it takes to have them sent back to Mexico," read one message sent to Lozano and seen by the Guardian. Lozano is in the US legally, but the employer was explicit about the rest of the crew who were undocumented. "Your [sic] the only one that won't get sent back. Tell that to them," another text stated.

The impact of such threats on the mental wellbeing of undocumented workers is chilling. Lozano says that his five friends, who already struggled to make ends meet despite working such long hours, now turn down valuable work if it does not come from someone they trust. "They are afraid to trust anyone they do not already know in case that happens again. He did it to make us feel like nothing. He thought we are not going to talk to anybody," Lozano said.

Maria Guadalupe Escobar certainly knows that feeling. Last year she and other workers at a seafood packing plant in Orange County, New York, filed a lawsuit against their employer for violating labour standards. A few months later, Escobar was stopped in her car by DHS agents and later arrested and transferred into immigration custody.

"The employer knew we were undocumented workers. He hired us knowing that, and took advantage of us by not paying us overtime. He knew we were vulnerable and desperate. He never expected us to stand up for our rights, our human rights, and then when we did, he used his connections to send immigration after me. He targeted me," she told the Guardian.

Escobar, who is trying to fight being deported, said her experience has been deeply traumatising. "I feel like I'm nothing. Like the dirt. Like I've been thrown on the ground. I've already sacrificed so much, given so much of myself, working for such low wages, and then to be treated like this. It's too much," she said.

One area of hope might lie in current efforts towards immigration reform which look set to agree on some sort of path towards citizenship for undocumented workers already in the country.

But experts warn things may not be so straightforward for low-wage workers, even if immigration reform is passed. They say it is vital to make sure any new law includes labour protections, otherwise the exact same conditions that exist now - a cheap pool of easily exploitable immigrant labour open to unscrupulous employers - will simply develop again.

"We have to make sure we don't just recreate this system we watch as an underclass develops that can be exploited," said Smith.
Topics

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Undocumented workers' grim reality: speak out on abuse and risk deportation

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Luis Zavala knew something had gone wrong when he saw the gun pointed at him. The 45-year-old construction worker in Louisiana, and about two dozen others in his crew, had gathered in the small town of Kenner, on the outskirts of New Orleans, where he believed they were about to be given unpaid wages owed by their boss.

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Why so many nail technicians are Vietnamese ...

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Why so many nail technicians are Vietnamese ...

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The fascinating story behind why so many nail technicians are Vietnamese

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[gentle music]

[gravel crunching]

[man grunting]

[camera whirring]

[speaking foreign language]

[Ronald] We're being watched right now.

See that Border Patrol agent up there?

See his lights are on?

It's one person who's watching us.

Isn't it so fascinating that the simple act

of drawing a line on a map can transform

the way we see and experience the world?

[camera whirring]

[camera whirring]

[paper flapping]

[Ronald] I grew up in a small village

which was once Mexico

in Southern Colorado.

And the history of that legacy still exists.

It exists in our language, it exists in our food,

it exists in our culture.

[children laughing]

I always think about this as the borderlands,

they stretch not only into United States,

but also into Mexico.

This region that's defined by borders.

[Ana] Well I am Tapatia,

I am from Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.

And I came here to study my master's degree in Tijuana.

I have been living for three years in the US.

I start working at the estuary since 11 years now.

[insects chirping]

[water rushing]

[truck rumbling]

[children calling]

[water rushing]

[waves crashing]

Really, this is one community.

This is not two landscapes that are defined by this wall.

This is one landscape that is divided by this wall.

Mattias, this is what they make the wall out of.

Look how thick that steal is.

Oh man, that's heavy! [laughs]

I can't hold it with one hand.

[metal clanging]

[Ronald] I think designing a humane border is to design

for the people and the ecologies that are

in the borderlands.

We imagine new possibilities in this landscape.

[beeping]

[metal clanging]

[light guitar music]

Both cities are very integrated,

but we're very separated because of the hassle

for people to go across.

People have taken five hours to go across the bridge.

In Europe in five hours you can go across a whole country.

And here it's just across one bridge.

So we can be very close one another,

but very separated at the same time.

For people to understand what border life is,

I think a lot of them have to be near the border

in order for them to understand it.

30 years I've been, my family's here.

Me going across the bridge on a daily basis,

you understand how things work.

It's not just paper, it's reality.

[speaking foreign language]

It's never felt like different countries.

It's very difficult to find somebody

in Brownsville that doesn't have an attachment to Matamoros.

Though it's vital for both Matamoros and Brownsville

to well with one another.

And what we're trying to push

is integrating dedicated bike path, a cyclist path,

to go across the bridge.

It's easier to check a bike than a car.

It's more efficient.

Has any conversation started

with Border Patrol on either side?

Well, we've had conversations with CBP.

They didn't implement it.

I think we should follow up with them.

Just because you live in Matamoros, you live in Brownsville,

doesn't mean you're impacted

by the other community's decisions.

[Bearded Man] We think of it as normal,

but it really is interesting because, you know--

It goes back hundreds of years.

But fear is a very destructive emotion.

You know, you just follow the wall the whole time,

and you can't help but think you're

in prison in this side.

I lost my dog for a couple of months and I was like,

she's on the other side of the border wall,

but I can't get there. [laughing]

You know, you don't know--

[Bearded Man] Dog's don't need passports.

Yeah, dog's don't have passports.

[dog barking]

[weed eater whirring]

[birds chirping]

[Mauricio] It's a question of drawing a very hard line

in the sand about what one thing is and another thing is.

But those lines are complete obstructions.

Really, people, and animals,

and water flow across these boundaries.

So, we just wanted to see if we could change

the way that this space is occupied for a moment.

[metal clanging]

[metal rattling]

[Man] You guys ready [rattle drowns out speaker].

[speaking foreign language]

[children laughing]

[crowd laughing]

[speaking foreign language]

[truck rumbling]

[hopeful music]

[eagle screeching]

[camera whirring]

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In six cities along the U.S.-Mexico border, local planners, designers, and citizens work toward cross-border collaboration on shared economic, environmental, and humanitarian concerns.

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A young girl's brutal journey to the U.S. with a single goal: finding her mother.

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Trump Makes Things Nearly Impossible for Asylum Seekers

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Jonathan Blitzer was at the U.S.-Mexico border as tensions heightened after the U.S. fired tear gas at migrants seeking refuge in America.

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Vietnam Background: Uneasy French Rule

* 1887: France imposes a colonial system over Vietnam, calling it French Indochina. The system includes Tonkin, Annam, Cochin China and Cambodia. Laos is added in 1893.

* February 1930: Ho Chi Minh founds the Indochinese Communist Party at a meeting in Hong Kong.

* June 1940: Nazi Germany takes control of France.

* September 1940: Japanese troops invade French Indochina and occupy Vietnam with little French resistance.

* May 1941: Ho Chi Minh and communist colleagues establish the League for the Independence of Vietnam. Known as the Viet Minh, the movement aims to resist French and Japanese occupation of Vietnam.

* March 1945: Japanese troops occupying Indochina carry out a coup against French authorities and announce an end to the colonial era, declaring Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia independent.

* August 1945: Japan is defeated by the Allies in World War II, leaving a power vacuum in Indochina. France begins to reassert its authority over Vietnam.

* September 1945: Ho Chi Minh declares an independent North Vietnam and models his declaration on the American Declaration of Independence of 1776 in an (unsuccessful) effort to win the support of the United States.

* July 1946: Ho Chi Minh rejects a French proposal granting Vietnam limited self-government and the Viet Minh begins a guerrilla war against the French.

When Was the Vietnam War?

* March 1947: In an address to Congress, President Harry Truman states that the foreign policy of the United States is to assist any country whose stability is threatened by communism. The policy becomes known as the Truman Doctrine.

* June 1949: The French install former emperor Bao Dai as head of state in Vietnam.

* August 1949: The Soviet Union explodes its first atom bomb in a remote area of Kazakhstan, marking a tense turning point in the Cold War with the United States.

* October 1949: Following a civil war, Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong declares the creation of the People's Republic of China.

* January 1950: The People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union formally recognize the communist Democratic Republic of Vietnam and both begin to supply economic and military aid to communist resistance fighters within the country.

* February 1950: Assisted by the Soviet Union and the newly Communist China, the Viet Minh step up their offensive against French outposts in Vietnam.

* June 1950: The United States, identifying the Viet Minh as a Communist threat, steps up military assistance to France for their operations against the Viet Minh.

* March-May 1954: French troops are humiliated in defeat by Viet Minh forces at Dien Bien Phu. The defeat solidifies the end of French rule in Indochina.

The Geneva Accords

* July 1954: The Geneva Accords establish North and South Vietnam with the 17th parallel as the dividing line. The agreement also stipulates that elections are to be held within two years to unify Vietnam under a single democratic government. These elections never happen.

* 1955: Catholic nationalist Ngo Dinh Diem emerges as the leader of South Vietnam, with U.S. backing, while Ho Chi Minh leads the communist state to the north.

* July 1959: The first U.S. soldiers are killed in South Vietnam when guerrillas raid their living quarters near Saigon.

* September 1960: Ho Chi Minh, facing failing health, is replaced by Le Duan as head of North Vietnam's ruling communist party.

* December 1960: The National Liberation Front (NLF) is formed with North Vietnamese backing as the political wing of the antigovernment insurgency in South Vietnam. The United States views the NLF as an arm of North Vietnam and starts calling the military wing of the NLF the Viet Cong-short for Vietnam Cong-san, or Vietnamese communists.

* May 1961: President John F. Kennedy sends helicopters and 400 Green Berets to South Vietnam and authorizes secret operations against the Viet Cong.

* January 1962: In Operation Ranch Hand, U.S. aircraft start spraying Agent Orange and other herbicides over rural areas of South Vietnam to kill vegetation that would offer cover and food for guerrilla forces.

* February 1962: Ngo Dinh Diem survives a bombing of the presidential palace in South Vietnam as Diem's extreme favoritism toward South Vietnam's Catholic minority alienates him from most of the South Vietnamese population, including Vietnamese Buddhists.

* January 1963: At Ap Bac, a village in the Mekong Delta southwest of Saigon, South Vietnamese troops are defeated by a much smaller unit of Viet Cong fighters. The South Vietnamese are overcome despite their four-to-one advantage and the technical and planning assistance of U.S. advisers.

* May 1963: In a major incident of what becomes known as the "Buddhist Crisis," the government of Ngo Dinh Diem opens fire on a crowd of Buddhist protestors in the central Vietnam city of Hue. Eight people, including children, are killed.

* June 1963: A 73-year-old monk immolates himself while sitting at a major city intersection in protest, leading other Buddhists to follow suit in coming weeks. The United States' already declining confidence in Diem's leadership continues to slide.

* November 1963: The United States backs a South Vietnam military coup against the unpopular Diem, which ends in the brutal killing of Diem and his brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu. Between 1963 and 1965, 12 different governments take the lead in South Vietnam as military coups replace one government after another.

America Enters the Vietnam War

* August 1964: USS Maddox on an espionage mission is attacked by North Vietnamese patrol torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin. A second attack on the Maddox and another U.S. ship in the Gulf is alleged, but likely never occurred, according to National Security Agency documents declassified in 2005. The incidents lead President Johnson to call for air strikes on North Vietnamese patrol boat bases. Two U.S. aircraft are shot down and one U.S. pilot, Everett Alvarez Jr., becomes the first U.S. airman to be taken prisoner by North Vietnam.

* August 1964: The attacks in the Gulf of Tonkin spur Congress to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which authorizes the president to "take all necessary measures, including the use of armed force" against any aggressor in the conflict.

* November 1964: The Soviet Politburo increases its support to North Vietnam, sending aircraft, artillery, ammunition, small arms, radar, air defense systems, food and medical supplies. Meanwhile, China sends several engineering troops to North Vietnam to assist in building critical defense infrastructure.

* February 1965: President Johnson orders the bombing of targets in North Vietnam in Operation Flaming Dart in retaliation for a Viet Cong raid at the U.S. base in the city of Pleiku and at a nearby helicopter base at Camp Holloway.

* March 1965: President Johnson launches a three-year campaign of sustained bombing of targets in North Vietnam and the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Operation Rolling Thunder. The same month, U.S. Marines land on beaches near Da Nang, South Vietnam as the first American combat troops to enter Vietnam.

* June 1965: General Nguen Van Thieu of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam Governmental Military (ARVN), becomes president of South Vietnam.

More Troops, More Deaths, More Protests

* July 1965: President Johnson calls for 50,000 more ground troops to be sent to Vietnam, increasing the draft to 35,000 each month.

* August 1965: In Operation Starlite, some 5,500 U.S. Marines strike against the First Viet Cong Regiment in the first major ground offensive by U.S. forces in Vietnam. The six-day operation diffuses the Viet Cong regiment, although it would quickly rebuild.

* November 1965: Nearly 300 Americans are killed and hundreds more injured in the first large-scale battle of the war, the Battle of la Drang Valley. At the battle, in South Vietnam's Central Highlands, U.S. ground troops are dropped onto and withdrawn from the battlefield by helicopter, in what would become a common strategy. Both sides declare victory.

* 1966: U.S. troop numbers in Vietnam rise to 400,000.

* June 1966: American aircraft attack targets in Hanoi and Haiphong in raids that are among the first such attacks on cities in North Vietnam.

* 1967: U.S. troop numbers stationed in Vietnam increase to 500,000.

* February 1967: U.S. aircraft bomb Haiphong Harbor and North Vietnamese airfields.

* April 1967: Huge Vietnam War protests occur in Washington, D.C., New York City and San Francisco.

* September 1967: Nguyen Van Thieu wins the presidential election of South Vietnam under a newly enacted constitution.

* November 1967: In the Battle of Dak To, U.S. and South Vietnamese forces resist an offensive by communist forces in the Central Highlands. The United States forces suffer some 1,800 casualties.

* January-April 1968: A U.S. Marine garrison at Khe Sanh in South Vietnam is bombarded with massive artillery by communist forces from the People's Army of North Vietnam (PAVN). For 77 days, the marines and South Vietnamese forces fend off the siege.

North Vietnam Shocks America

* January 1968: The Tet Offensive begins, encompassing a combined assault of Viet Minh and North Vietnamese armies. Attacks are carried out in more than 100 cities and outposts across South Vietnam, including Hue and Saigon, and the U.S. Embassy is invaded. The effective, bloody attacks shock U.S. officials and mark a turning point in the war and the beginning of a gradual U.S. withdrawal from the region.

* February 11-17, 1968: This week records the highest number of U.S. soldier deaths during the war, with 543 American deaths.

* February-March 1968: Battles at Hue and Saigon end with American and ARVN victory as Viet Cong guerillas are cleared from the cities.

* March 16, 1968: At the U.S. massacre at Mai Lai, more than 500 civilians are murdered by U.S. forces. The massacre happens amid a campaign of U.S. search-and-destroy operations that are intended to find enemy territories, destroy them and then retreat.

* March 1968: President Johnson halts bombing in Vietnam north of the 20th parallel. Facing backlash about the war, Johnson announces he will not run for reelection.

* November 1968: Republican Richard M. Nixon wins the U.S. presidential elections on the campaign promises to restore "law and order" and to end the draft.

* May 1969: At Ap Bia Mountain, about a mile from the border with Laos, U.S. paratroopers attack entrenched North Vietnamese fighters in an attempt to cut off North Vietnamese infiltration from Laos. U.S. troops eventually capture the site (temporarily), which would be nicknamed Hamburger Hill by journalists due to the brutal carnage of the 10-day battle.

* September 1969: Ho Chi Minh dies of a heart attack in Hanoi.

* December 1969: The U.S. government institutes the first draft lottery since World War II, prompting ever more young American men-later disparaged as "draft dodgers"-to flee to Canada.

Gradual Withdrawal from Vietnam

* 1969-1972: The Nixon administration gradually reduces the number of U.S. forces in South Vietnam, placing more burden on the ground forces of South Vietnam's ARVN as part of a strategy known as Vietnamization. U.S. troops in Vietnam are reduced from a peak of 549,000 in 1969 to 69,000 in 1972.

* February 1970: U.S. National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger begins secret peace negotiations with Hanoi politburo member Le Duc Tho in Paris.

* March 1969-May 1970: In a series of secret bombings known as "Operation Menu," U.S. B-52 bombers target suspected communist base camps and supply zones in Cambodia. The bombings are kept under wraps by Nixon and his administration since Cambodia is officially neutral in the war, although The New York Times would reveal the operation on May 9, 1969.

* April-June 1970: U.S. and South Vietnamese forces attack communist bases across the Cambodian border in the Cambodian Incursion.

* May 4, 1970: In a bloody incident known as the Kent State Shooting, National Guardsmen fire on anti-war demonstrators at Ohio's Kent State University, killing four students and wounding nine.

* June 1970: Congress repeals the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution to reassert control over the president's ability to use force in the war.

Vietnamization Falters, America Exits

* January-March 1971: In Operation Lam Son 719, ARVN troops, with U.S. support, invade Laos in an attempt to cut off the Ho Chi Minh Trail. They are forced to retreat and suffer heavy losses.

* June 1971: The New York Times publishes a series of articles detailing leaked Defense Department documents about the war, known as the Pentagon Papers. The report reveals the U.S. government had repeatedly and secretly increased U.S. involvement in the war.

* March-October 1972: The People's Army of Vietnam launches the large-scale, three-pronged Easter Offensive against the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and U.S. forces. While North Vietnam gains control of more territory in South Vietnam, the offensive isn't the decisive blow its military leaders had hoped for.

* December 1972: President Nixon orders the launch of the most intense air offense of the war in Operation Linebacker. The attacks, concentrated between Hanoi and Haiphong, drop roughly 20,000 tons of bombs over densely populated regions.

* January 22, 1973: Former President Johnson dies in Texas at age 64.

* January 27, 1973: The Selective Service announces the end to the draft and institutes an all-volunteer military.

* January 27, 1973: President Nixon signs the Paris Peace Accords, ending direct U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. The North Vietnamese accept a cease fire. But as U.S. troops depart Vietnam, North Vietnamese military officials continue plotting to overtake South Vietnam.

* February-April 1973: North Vietnam returns 591 American prisoners of war (including future U.S. Senator and presidential candidate, John McCain) in what is known as Operation Homecoming.

How Many Were Killed in the Vietnam War?

* January 1975: President Ford rules out any further U.S. military involvement in Vietnam.

* April 1975: In the Fall of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam is seized by communist forces and the government of South Vietnam surrenders. U.S. Marine and Air Force helicopters transport more than 1,000 American civilians and nearly 7,000 South Vietnamese refugees out of Saigon in an 18-hour mass evacuation effort.

* July 1975: North and South Vietnam are formally unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam under hardline communist rule.

* The War Dead: By the end of the war, some 58,220 Americans lose their lives. Vietnam would later release estimates that 1.1 million North Vietnamese and Viet Cong fighters were killed, up to 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers died and more than 2 million civilians were killed on both sides of the war.

Sources

The Vietnam War: The Definitive Illustrated History, created in association with the Smithsonian Institution, published by DK | Penguin Random House, 2017.
The Vietnam War: An Intimate History, by Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns, based on the film series by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, published by Penguin Random House, 2017.
Vietnam Profile - Timeline, BBC News, June 12, 2017.
Operation Starlite: The First Battle of the Vietnam War, Military.com.
South Vietnam: The Buddhist Crisis, Time.
Buddhists - The 1963 Crisis, GlobalSecurity.org.
Vietnam, Diem, the Buddhist Crisis, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library
The Fall of Saigon, United States History.
What Were the Major Battles of the Vietnam War? The Vietnam War.
Statistical information about casualties of the Vietnam War, U.S. National Archives.
"Feuds and Bad Planning in Saigon Exit Recalled," The New York Times, May 5, 1975.
"Nixon Again Deplores Leak on Bombing Cambodia," The New York Times, March 11, 1976.
Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963, Volume III, Vietnam, January-August 1963, The U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian.
"The Truman Doctrine Fades," The New York Times, May 4, 1975.

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A guide to the complex political and military issues involved in a war that would ultimately claim millions of lives.

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Compréhension de l'oral , a travailler pendant les vacances 

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Compréhension de l'oral , a travailler pendant les vacances 

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More Vietnamese Immigrants Drawn To Nail Salon Business

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They toiled through back-breaking labor during both frigid winters and blazing summers. Hundreds died from explosions, landslides, accidents and disease. And even though they made major contributions to the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad, these 15,000 to 20,000 Chinese immigrants have been largely ignored by history.

Looking back, historians say, the Chinese, who began arriving in the United States in significant numbers during the California Gold Rush of 1848-1855, were deemed too weak for the dangerous, strenuous job of building the railroad east from California.

Hilton Obenzinger, associate director of the Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project at Stanford University, says that Central Pacific Railroad director Charles Crocker recommended hiring Chinese workers after a job ad resulted in only a few hundred responses from white laborers.

"But Crocker's plan hit opposition amid anti-Chinese sentiment, stemming from the California Gold Rush, that gripped the state," Obenzinger told NBC, noting that construction superintendent James Strobridge didn't think the immigrants were strong enough to do the job.

Nonetheless, Central Pacific Railroad was desperate, says Gordon Chang, Stanford professor of American history and author of the book, Ghosts of Gold Mountain.

"White workers, whom the company wanted, did not sign on in numbers anything close to what was needed," he says. "Crocker's colleagues objected at first because of prejudice but then relented as they had few other options. The idea of hiring Chinese, it appears, might have been raised first by Crocker's Chinese manservant."

According to the Chinese Railroad Workers Project, Central Pacific started with a crew of 21 Chinese workers in January 1864.

"In January 1865, convinced that Chinese workers were capable, the railroad hired 50 Chinese workers and then 50 more," the Project notes. "But the demand for labor increased, and white workers were reluctant to do such backbreaking, hazardous work."

Leland Stanford, president of Central Pacific, former California governor and founder of Stanford University, told Congress in 1865, that the majority of the railroad labor force were Chinese. Without them," he said, "it would be impossible to complete the western portion of this great national enterprise, within the time required by the Acts of Congress."

More Chinese immigrants began arriving in California, and two years later, about 90 percent of the workers were Chinese.

"Hong Kong and China were as close in travel time as the eastern U.S.," Chang says. "The Irish (who made up the majority of the Union Pacific workforce which was laying tracks westward from Omaha, Neb.) did not come out to California in large numbers until after the completion of the Transcontinental."

Their job duties included everything from unskilled labor to blacksmithing, tunneling and carpentry, according to the Project, with most work done with hand tools.

Of course the large number of immigrants working for Central Pacific and their hard work didn't mean they were well-treated or well-compensated for their efforts. According to the Project, Chinese workers hired in 1864 were paid $26 a month, working six days a week.

They eventually held an eight-day strike in June of 1867.

"Chinese received 30-50 percent lower wages than whites for the same job and they had to pay for their own food stuffs," Chang says. "They also had the most difficult and dangerous work, including tunneling and the use of explosives. There is also evidence they faced physical abuse at times from some supervisors. They protested these and the long hours and they used their collective strength to challenge the company."

The strike ended without pay parity after Central Pacific cut off food, transportation and supplies to the Chinese living in camps, but, Chang says, the strike was not held in vain. Working conditions improved following the strike.

"They scared the pants off the company leaders," he says.

Despite Chinese workers' contributions to building America's historic infrastructure project, Chang says their history is often forgotten.

"Many books on the railroad focus on the Big Four and the barons of the UP," he says. "Workers, including the Irish, receive little attention. What is more, written history has marginalized the Chinese, as with all other minorities."

Fact Check

We strive for accuracy and fairness. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate.

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Building the Transcontinental Railroad: How 20,000 Chinese Immigrants Made It Happen | HISTORY

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Railroad companies were at first reluctant to hire Chinese workers, deeming them too "weak," but the immigrants soon proved to be a vital powerhouse.

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Undocumented immigrants

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Webquest with answers ( 2nd part)

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artists installed seesaws at the border so kids in the us and mexico could play together - cnn

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Artists installed seesaws at the border so kids in the US and Mexico could play together

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It may seem like an ordinary scene: Children and adults playing on pink seesaws, carelessly laughing and chatting with each other

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Luis Zavala knew something had gone wrong when he saw the gun pointed at him.

The 45-year-old construction worker in Louisiana, and about two dozen others in his crew, had gathered in the small town of Kenner, on the outskirts of New Orleans, where he believed they were about to be given unpaid wages owed by their boss.

The move was set to bring an end to a bitter dispute, and their employer had told them to gather at a car park in front of an apartment complex. But instead of meeting him, they were surrounded by armed police and officers from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.

Zavala, who was waiting in his car when the violent raid began, found himself dragged outside his vehicle, cuffed and laid out on the ground. "They came very aggressively, with their guns pointed. They threw me on the floor. They put their foot on my back. It was very terrifying," Zavala told the Guardian.

Zavala and his colleagues had just run up against a brutal truth that affects more than 11 million undocumented migrants who work in the shadowy low-wage depths of the American economy: speaking up against an employer who abuses you can get you arrested and deported.

Millions of workers like Zavala toil in industries like construction, casual day labour, agriculture or the food industry across America and, as Zavala and many others have found, standing up and complaining can result in an employer reporting them to the immigration authorities.

Experts point out that some employers are all too eager to take on undocumented workers and exploit them for their willingness to work long hours for low pay. If no one complains, questions about immigration papers are rarely asked. But if problems do arise - such as being injured on the job or workers demanding better pay or access to a union - a swift phone call to the police or ICE will result in the difficult employees being deported.

"Employers use this as a huge club against workers who stand up for themselves," said Rebecca Smith, an expert at the National Employment Law Project, which campaigns on various worker abuse issues in the US.

Smith recently co-authored a study of the phenomenon for NELP called Workers Rights on ICE, which chronicled many recent cases where the threat of deportation had been used against workers who tried to unionise or complained about safety standards or had their wages stolen. But Smith believes that because most victims are either deported or afraid of being deported the vast majority of incidents taking place in America simply never come to light. "It is the tip of an iceberg," she said.

But some do speak out. One is Felipe Villareal, a former car-wash worker from Mexico who has been in the US since 2000. Like many undocumented workers he was willing to do a job that American workers did not want and certainly not for such little cash. Villareal worked amid the chemical fumes and hot water of a mechanised car wash in Culver City, California, often just for tips. "There was a lack of safety protection. They use a lot of toxic chemicals that get on your skin and your lungs," he said.

Villareal was fired when he complained about his low wages, but instead of saying nothing, he launched an unfair labour practice complaint that forced his reinstatement. But it was then that his employer suddenly decided he needed to go through the Department of Homeland Security's E-verify system in order to get his job back. Villareal, who declines to discuss his immigration status, believes there was only one reason for bringing in the new rule at a company that until then had asked few questions. "I believe that they used the immigration threat for people like me who spoke out. It gives employers power over their workers," he said.

Sometimes that power is brutally explicit. In Austin, Texas, Antonio Campos Lozano and five of his fellow construction workers had gone unpaid by their boss. They had worked night shifts doing building work in a local mall and then often worked through the day elsewhere around the city for the same man.

"Sometimes you don't go home. You just get ready for the next shift. We work for our families. That's the main reason. We have bills to pay and families to support," he said.

But then their boss refused to pay them, and the crew reported the local businessman to a workers' rights group which took legal action.

Astonishingly, Lozano then started getting text messages from the man threatening deportation to the entire crew. "I am going to do whatever it takes to have them sent back to Mexico," read one message sent to Lozano and seen by the Guardian. Lozano is in the US legally, but the employer was explicit about the rest of the crew who were undocumented. "Your [sic] the only one that won't get sent back. Tell that to them," another text stated.

The impact of such threats on the mental wellbeing of undocumented workers is chilling. Lozano says that his five friends, who already struggled to make ends meet despite working such long hours, now turn down valuable work if it does not come from someone they trust. "They are afraid to trust anyone they do not already know in case that happens again. He did it to make us feel like nothing. He thought we are not going to talk to anybody," Lozano said.

Maria Guadalupe Escobar certainly knows that feeling. Last year she and other workers at a seafood packing plant in Orange County, New York, filed a lawsuit against their employer for violating labour standards. A few months later, Escobar was stopped in her car by DHS agents and later arrested and transferred into immigration custody.

"The employer knew we were undocumented workers. He hired us knowing that, and took advantage of us by not paying us overtime. He knew we were vulnerable and desperate. He never expected us to stand up for our rights, our human rights, and then when we did, he used his connections to send immigration after me. He targeted me," she told the Guardian.

Escobar, who is trying to fight being deported, said her experience has been deeply traumatising. "I feel like I'm nothing. Like the dirt. Like I've been thrown on the ground. I've already sacrificed so much, given so much of myself, working for such low wages, and then to be treated like this. It's too much," she said.

One area of hope might lie in current efforts towards immigration reform which look set to agree on some sort of path towards citizenship for undocumented workers already in the country.

But experts warn things may not be so straightforward for low-wage workers, even if immigration reform is passed. They say it is vital to make sure any new law includes labour protections, otherwise the exact same conditions that exist now - a cheap pool of easily exploitable immigrant labour open to unscrupulous employers - will simply develop again.

"We have to make sure we don't just recreate this system we watch as an underclass develops that can be exploited," said Smith.
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Undocumented workers' grim reality: speak out on abuse and risk deportation

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Luis Zavala knew something had gone wrong when he saw the gun pointed at him. The 45-year-old construction worker in Louisiana, and about two dozen others in his crew, had gathered in the small town of Kenner, on the outskirts of New Orleans, where he believed they were about to be given unpaid wages owed by their boss.

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In order to apply for a Green Card, you must be eligible under one of the categories listed below. Once you find the category that may fit your situation, click on the link provided to get information on eligibility requirements, how to apply, and whether your family members can also apply with you.

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Unmarried son or daughter of a U.S. citizen and you are 21 years old or older

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In order to apply for a Green Card, you must be eligible under one of the categories listed in this page.

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2 Term Most of leading migrant caravan heads for Mexico City The Washington Post

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With the unsuccessful rescission of the Deferred Action for Children Arrivals (DACA) initiative in September 2017, there has been renewed pressure on Congress to pass federal legislation known as the Dream Act to protect young immigrants who are vulnerable to deportation. This fact sheet provides an overview of the DACA initiative following the Supreme Court's decision blocking the program's rescission, the Dream Act and similar legislative proposals, and provides information about policies at the state level that support Dreamers.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals

On June 15, 2012, then-Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano created Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). DACA is an exercise of prosecutorial discretion, providing temporary relief from deportation (deferred action) and work authorization to certain young undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children. DACA has enabled almost 800,000 eligible young adults to work lawfully, attend school, and plan their lives without the constant threat of deportation--usually to an unfamiliar country. Unlike federal legislation, however, DACA does not provide permanent legal status to individuals and must be renewed every two years.

On September 5, 2017, Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke rescinded the 2012 DACA memorandum and announced a "wind down" of DACA. As of that date, no new applications for DACA were accepted. DACA beneficiaries whose status was due to expire before March 5, 2018, were permitted to renew their status for an additional two years if they applied by October 5, 2017. Any person for whom DACA would have expired as of March 6, 2018, would no longer have deferred action or employment authorization. The attempted rescission was challenged by U.S. district courts in California, New York, Maryland, and the District of Columbia.

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review the legal challenges of the lower courts during its 2019-2020 term. On June 18, 2020, the Court ultimately ruled in a 5-4 decision that the Trump administration's attempt to terminate the program was unlawful, reasoning that the administration failed to properly explain its decision or consider alternatives to a full rescission of the initiative in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). However, the Court also recognized that the federal government ultimately retains the legal authority to end the DACA initiative if it were to do so in compliance with the APA.

Following the Supreme Court's decision, as well as a federal court order issued on July 17, 2020, the DACA program was technically restored to its state prior to the September 2017 rescission. This brought hope to the many people who aged into the initiative-particularly those who reached the minimum age requirement of 15 in the past couple of years while the litigation was ongoing. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) subsequently began accepting some initial DACA requests and applications for advance parole but failed to approve or adjudicate any of these forms. Approximately six weeks after the Supreme Court's decision, Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf issued a memorandum making major changes to the DACA initiative.

Acting Secretary Wolf's July memorandum rescinds former Acting Secretary Duke's memorandum from 2017 and makes several significant changes to the operation of DACA. As of June 28, 2020, current and prior DACA recipients can continue to apply to renew their protections with USCIS. The validity period for those protections has been reduced to one year, however, and DACA recipients will now have to apply to renew their protections annually, rather than every two years. USCIS will reject all pending and future initial DACA requests from people who are eligible for DACA but have not previously participated in the initiative, as well as all pending and future applications for advance parole that fail to present exceptional circumstances. Acting Secretary Wolf's memorandum also indicates that he is reconsidering the DACA initiative in its entirety and further changes are likely.

On August 21, 2020, USCIS Deputy Director for Policy Joseph Edlow issued a memorandum implementing Acting Secretary Wolf's directive. Deputy Director Edlow's memorandum clarifies that USCIS will continue to accept and adjudicate DACA requests from all previous DACA recipients, including those who may have failed to renew their protections within one year of the expiration of their last DACA period. The memo also confirms that USCIS will no longer accept renewal requests submitted more than 150 days in advance of the expiration of an applicant's current DACA protections. Further, Deputy Director Edlow's memorandum indicates that USCIS is in the process of considering the merits and feasibility of reducing DACA-related fees during the period while the initiative is under review. Finally, the memorandum clarifies the new standard for the consideration of advance parole submitted by DACA recipients.

The Dream Act

The first version of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act was introduced in 2001. As a result, young undocumented immigrants have since been called "Dreamers." Over the last 19 years, at least ten versions of the Dream Act have been introduced in Congress. While the various versions of the Dream Act have contained some key differences, they all would have provided a pathway to legal status for undocumented youth who came to this country as children. Some versions have garnered as many as 48 co-sponsors in the Senate and 152 in the House.

Despite bipartisan support for each bill, none has become law. The bill came closest to full passage in 2010 when it passed the House of Representatives but fell just five votes short of the 60 necessary to proceed in the Senate.

In July 2017, Senators Lindsay Graham (SC) and Richard Durbin (IL) introduced a version of the Dream Act in the Senate and Representatives Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL) introduced a partner version in the House of Representatives. That year, members of the House introduced several other legislative proposals to address the legal status of undocumented youth, most of which were variants of the Dream Act. Although some of these bills drew significant support, none became law.
Current Federal Legislative Proposals
The most recent version of the Dream Act, H.R. 2820, was introduced in May 2019 in the House by Rep. Roybal-Allard. The House Judiciary Committee passed H.R. 2820 on May 22, 2019, and the bill was subsequently combined with H.R. 2821, the American Promise Act of 2019, to form H.R. 6, the American Dream and Promise Act of 2019. H.R. 6 would provide permanent legal status for Dreamers as well as beneficiaries of two humanitarian programs: Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED). H.R. 6 passed the House on June 4, 2019, by a vote of 237 to 187.

What Would the Dream Act Do?

The American Dream and Promise Act of 2019 would provide current, former, and future undocumented high-school graduates and GED recipients a pathway to U.S. citizenship through college, work, or the armed services. The Act outlines a three-step process, summarized below.

Step 1: Conditional Permanent Residence

An individual would be eligible to obtain conditional permanent resident (CPR) status for up to 10 years, which includes work authorization, if the person:

entered the United States under the age of 18;

entered four years prior to bill enactment and has since been continuously present;

has been admitted to an institution of higher education or technical education school, has graduated high school or obtained a GED, or is currently enrolled in secondary school or a program assisting students to obtain a high school diploma or GED;

has not been convicted of any "crime involving moral turpitude" or controlled substance offense, any crime punishable by more than one year in prison, or three or more offenses under state or federal law. There is an exception for offenses which are essential to a person's immigration status; and

has not been convicted of a crime of domestic violence unless the individual can prove the crime was related to being the victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, child abuse, neglect in later life, human trafficking, battery, or extreme cruelty.

Under the terms of the bill, the Secretary of Homeland Security can issue waivers for humanitarian purposes, for family unity, or when the waiver is otherwise in the public interest. In addition, anyone who currently has DACA would be granted a swift path to CPR status.
Step 2: Lawful Permanent Residence
Anyone who maintains CPR status could obtain lawful permanent residence(LPR status or a "green card") by satisfying one of the following requirements.

Higher education: the person completed at least two years, in good standing, of higher education or of a program leading to a certificate/credential from an area career and technical education school;

Military service: the person completed at least two years of military service with an honorable discharge, if discharged; or

Work: the person demonstrated employment over a total period of three years and at least 75 percent of that time the individual had employment authorization, with exceptions for those enrolled in higher education or technical school.

Individuals who cannot meet one of these requirements could apply for a "hardship waiver" if the applicant is a person with disabilities; a full-time caregiver of a minor child; or for whom removal would cause extreme hardship to a spouse, parent, or child who is a national or lawful permanent resident of the United States.
Step 3: Naturalization
After maintaining LPR status for five years, an individual can generally apply to become a U.S. citizen through the normal naturalization process.

According to the Migration Policy Institute, as many as 2.31 million individuals would qualify for conditional permanent resident status under the 2019 version of the Dream Act, putting them on a path to citizenship. The bill would also provide a path to citizenship for an estimated 429,000 people who are current or former beneficiaries of TPS or DED.

State Policies That Protect Dreamers

States cannot legalize the status of undocumented immigrants, but they may address collateral issues that stem from being undocumented. All 50 states and the District of Columbia permit DACA recipients to be issued driver's licenses. Numerous states enacted legislation to help many Dreamers overcome barriers to higher education and employment. Pursuant to some state laws and policies, many Dreamer students may be able to attend state universities and qualify for in-state tuition and/or financial aid. Some may also qualify for licenses for certain professional or trade occupations.

Colleges and universities each have their own policies about admitting undocumented students; some deny Dreamers admission, while others allow them to attend. Even when undocumented students are allowed to attend college, however, the tuition is often prohibitively expensive. If students cannot prove legal residency in a state, they must pay the much higher out-of-state or international-student tuition rates. Further, undocumented students do not qualify for federal student loans, work study, or other financial assistance. As a result, it is extremely difficult for undocumented students to afford to attend public universities.

To help undocumented students afford college, at least 19 states have passed laws that provide them with the opportunity to receive in-state tuition. California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington permit undocumented students who have attended and graduated from the state's primary and secondary schools to pay the same college tuition as other state residents. The laws generally require undocumented students to attend a school in the state for a certain number of years and graduate from high school in the state.

Many professional and trade industries--such as medicine, education, or cosmetology-require licensure to practice in certain states. Under federal law, undocumented immigrants are barred from receiving a professional license, unless legislation is implemented within individual states permitting their issuance. Thirteen states extend certain professional licenses to undocumented immigrants: Arkansas, California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York, Nevada, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

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The Dream Act, DACA, and Other Policies Designed to Protect Dreamers

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With the unsuccessful rescission of the Deferred Action for Children Arrivals (DACA) initiative in September 2017, there has been renewed pressure on Congress to pass federal legislation known as the Dream Act to protect young immigrants who are vulnerable to deportation.

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Visa overstays get short shrift in border security debate