Can California Revive Its Immigrant Worker Protection Act?

Seyfarth Synopsis: California enacted its Immigrant Worker Protection Act (IWPA) to make it more difficult for federal immigration enforcement agents to access nonpublic areas of employer worksites and private employee records. The U.S. Justice Department, however, recently persuaded a federal district court to issue a preliminary injunction against IWPA provisions that bar employers from voluntarily providing immigration enforcement agents with access to nonpublic worksites and employee records unless federal authorities present a judicial warrant (to access nonpublic worksites) or an administrative or judicial subpoena (to access employee records). In a sister post, our immigration expert Angelo A. Paparelli extensively analyzes this development and proposes a response that California might pursue.