In this labor upsurge, documented and undocumented workers participate on an equal basis. In unions seeking to build their strength through an alliance with this movement, organizers have to acquire a basic understanding of immigration law. Unions and community allies often distribute business cards which advise workers of their rights if they're stopped by the Border Patrol. In union meetings, workers ask questions about legal status, not only to get information, but also to test the union to see if it is really committed to defending undocumented as well as legal immigrants. In this part of the labor movement, the defense of the rights of all immigrants, including the undocumented, has become a survival issue.
Employers routinely use the threat of immigration raids to intimidate workers.
Employer sanctions have provided them a legally unchallengable way of conducting mass firings when faced with organizing activity. The normal legal remedy of reinstatement and backpay cannot be enforced for the undocumented. This is especially true following the Montero decision in New York City in mid-1997, in which Federal courts held that employers could legally provoke INS raids against union supporters during organizing drives. Immigrant-based labor struggles have reinforced thinking in the labor movement which sees unions as social movements, as the United Farm Workers was at its height in the 1960s and 70s. In the eyes of many active and progressive unionists, this upsurge contributes new ideas and tactics and an increased sense of militancy.