CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Thousands took the streets for "No Kings" rallies over the weekend. Other protests, such as anti-ICE demonstrations, are ongoing across the state and country. Organizations like Siembra NC are helping educate at-risk communities.
Through their “Make NC Work” Project, the group is helping businesses become "4th Amendment Workplaces." The Fourth Amendment protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government.
What You Need To Know
- The Fourth Amendment protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government
- Siembra NC is helping employers know their rights in case federal agents come to their establishment
- Since the initiative started in April, 88 workplaces and the town of Carrboro have registered as "4th Amendment Workplaces"
- While agents need to have warrants based on their search, business owners have a right to turn them away, although they must stay within their rights
Hidden in the heart of Chapel Hill lies Vimala’s Curryblossom Café.
“My motto is local fare with a global flair,” Vimala Rajendran, the chef and owner of the cafe, said.
Rajendran has always had a passion for food, although she’ll admit it wasn’t her original career path.
“My neighbors would be like, ‘Oh, your food is so good. You should start a restaurant,’ and I would be like, ‘No, never,’” Rajendran said.
Eventually she opened her cafe, which does not turn people away based on their ability to pay. Her food draws on global cultural influences, notably from Bombay (Mumbai), where she lived before moving to America.
That was 15 years ago.
“I came with a lot of knowledge of English, because I had all my education in English, so there was no language barrier when I arrived here,” Rajendran said. “However, some of the foods were new. Supermarkets looked different from the streetside bazaars that I would go to as a child.”
Despite the chaos of running a cafe, she always takes time to reflect on who helps her continue her success.
“If I thought of myself as invincible, I would do it all by myself. But I am, because of my employees,” Rajendran said.
Which is why she became a 4th Amendment Workplace through Siembra NC.
“I had concerns about safety because of the possibility of getting too much attention. And I decided at some point, if I don’t stand up for my workers and for other vulnerable workers in our community, then who will?” Rajendran said.
The initiative aims to guide business owners on what they can and cannot do if federal agents enter their workplace, such as what warrants are needed to conduct certain activities and where agents can and cannot go without the proper warrants.
“I will refuse entry to anyone who does not have a warrant that’s been issued by a judge,” Rajendran said.
If immigration agents want to view files and records of employees, to see if employees are allowed to work there, they would need to view an administrative warrant. But if they wanted to look in the back of the house to arrest someone, they would need a judicial warrant, according to Rishi Oza, a partner at Brown Immigration Law.
“Where is ICE allowed to operate? Kind of in the front of the house, right, where you’re going to go get your food and pay your bill at the cash register,” Oza said. “Where are they not allowed to go? To the private areas in the back, where the public just wouldn’t be presumed to be allowed to be back there.”
Oza said law enforcement officers are allowed to enter public spaces of an establishment but without the specific paperwork, they can be asked to leave.
“Be polite, but be firm. And if ... someone doesn’t have the right to be in your establishment, they don’t have a right to be there, whether it’s an unruly customer or whether it’s the government,” Oza said.
Siembra NC urges business owners to know what they can and cannot do to agents. According to the grassroots organization, if someone were to provide false information, help employees flee the premises or refuse entry to private areas after being provided a juridical warrant with correct information, it could result in legal jeopardy.
So far, 88 workplaces across the state have registered to become 4th Amendment Workplaces, as well as the town of Carrboro.
Oza said through his years of experience in immigration law, the arrests being made are not different from other administrations in the past. Former President Barack Obama had employees arrested at worksites during his administration.
“It definitely is getting more attention just because it’s so much more that the administration is trying to make this high profile. They’re really making a push up, saying, 'Hey, this is something that we’re pushing as a way of changing behavior.' And that’s I think ultimately what they’re trying to do,” Oza said.
He also said social media has played a part in the narrative and says it’s important to look at both sides of the issue, and ICE agents are doing their job.
“You can’t use kind of these, obviously, discriminatory tactics to say, 'I’m going to target that person because they have dark skin, and they might not be allowed to be in the United States.' You can’t do that. So and I mean, my experience with ICE is that they don’t tend to make those types of rookie mistakes,” Oza said. “There are a lot of folks that work overall Homeland Security that are out there trying to do the right thing. They’re trying to follow the law.”
Siembra NC’s training for the 4th Amendment Workplaces includes posting which areas of the establishment are private versus public access, installing locks to separate and secure private and public spaces, alerting staff of a raid and to stay silent, declining a consent to search and requesting counsel.
“It is vital that employees are absolutely safe here. I’m a U.S. citizen, which makes it safer for me. But that’s not true for some of the people,” Rajendran said.
Siembra NC is hosting a virtual meeting for those interested in becoming a 4th Amendment Workplace Thursday, June 19 at 7 p.m. via Zoom.
