The POWER Act further sets out clear procedures for federal, state and local officials to follow during immigration enforcement actions. If the Department of Homeland Security begins enforcement at a workplace where there is a current labor dispute, immigrant workers cannot be deported until the agency notifies the relevant authorities so they have a chance to conduct an interview. Essentially, the measure would make sure that unscrupulous employers can’t call DHS and have workers deported before they can participate in labor and employment law investigations.

This legislation comes on the heels of the Department of Labor’s new wage and hour awareness campaign, an effort to work toward stricter enforcement of the regulations that make sure all workers in this country get their deserved wages. That’s right: minimum wage and overtime laws, health and safety regulations apply to every worker in the country—including undocumented immigrants—and enforcing these laws protects American workers.

More than ever, undocumented and other vulnerable workers are being exploited by employers who find it too easy to ignore labor standards. A groundbreaking study of low-wage working conditions in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City found that our nation’s labor and employment laws are routinely violated; workers in our largest cities are systematically being denied the right to take a meal breaks, earn overtime wages and other fundamental labor rights. And in a down economy, unscrupulous employers will increasingly look for ways to ignore basic labor standards and keep their workforce “cheap, easily intimidated and disposable.”

The POWER Act would strengthen the ability of undocumented workers to speak out against these labor violations, and in doing so pressure employers to adhere to the labor standards that benefit all workers.

As the nation continues to debate the ins and outs of comprehensive immigration reform, let’s not forget that a smaller, targeted measure like the POWER Act can be a critical tool to in the fight to fix our broken immigration system and uphold our nation's labor laws.