Federal agents raided the family home of O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do and his wife, O.C. Superior Court Assistant Presiding Judge Cheri Pham, on Aug. 22, 2024.
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Adolfo Guzman-Lopez
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LAist
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Topline:
Federal agents on Thursday raided the family home of O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do and his wife — OC Superior Court Assistant Presiding Judge Cheri Pham — as well as a home owned by their daughter Rhiannon Do and multiple properties connected to an LAist investigation into millions of tax dollars that have gone unaccounted for.
The background: The action comes after nine months of LAist investigative stories revealing the large scale of taxpayer money O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do quietly directed to VAS and the group’s refusals to account to county demands for how it spent it. In total, LAist has uncovered over $13 million in public money that Supervisor Do approved for the nonprofit, which its government filings show was led on and off by Rhiannon Do, his 23-year-old daughter. Supervisor Do directed most of the funds on his own authority.
Go deeper: Read more from the investigation, which started in November 2023 here.
Federal agents on Thursday searched the family home of O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do and his wife — O.C. Superior Court Assistant Presiding Judge Cheri Pham — as well as a home owned by their daughter Rhiannon Do and multiple properties connected to an LAist investigation into millions of tax dollars that have gone unaccounted for.
A spokesperson for the IRS Criminal Investigation division confirmed they were involved in the searches along with the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The search warrants were executed for Rhiannon Do’s Tustin home; a North Tustin family home that real estate records show is owned by Cheri Pham and Supervisor Do; a Garden Grove home that public records show is owned by Peter Pham, the founder of Viet America Society (VAS); and a Fountain Valley home that government filings show is the business address for VAS — the nonprofit Orange County officials sued earlier this month for alleged fraud.
A neighbor told an LAist reporter on the scene that over a dozen black cars were parked on the street around the North Tustin house of Supervisor Do and Cheri Pham at the time of the raid.
A federal agent at the family home of O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do and his wife, O.C. Superior Court Assistant Presiding Judge Cheri Pham, on Aug. 22, 2024.
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Adolfo Guzman-Lopez
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LAist
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A spokesperson for the FBI confirmed they served search warrants at the homes. “The affidavit in support of the search warrant is under seal and so we’re prohibited from commenting as to the nature of the case. No arrests planned,” Laura Eimiller said.
Rhiannon Do’s Tustin home was named in the fraud lawsuit filed last week by Orange County officials, calling on VAS to return millions in taxpayer dollars. The lawsuit alleges that a fraud scheme involving Rhiannon Do, other VAS leaders, Aloha Financial Investment and its president Thu Thao Thi Vu, who owns the Fountain Valley home raided Thursday.
Vu’s name also appears on the grant deed for Rhiannon Do’s home purchase, as someone who should receive a copy once it’s officially recorded. Financial records obtained by LAist show that a large portion of county funds sent to VAS were routed to Perfume River Restaurant in Westminster, which is owned by Vu’s company, Aloha Financial Investment. Two VAS leaders have also held leadership roles at Aloha, according to records LAist obtained.
Shoppers pass Perfume River Restaurant & Lounge, which appeared closed, inside of the Asian Garden shopping mall, also known as Phước Lộc Thọ, in Westminster in April 2024.
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Brian Feinzimer
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LAist
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The FBI confirmed that it was involved in the raid on the Perfume River Restaurant, located in the Asian Garden Mall in Westminster. An IRS spokesperson, however, said the agency did not join in that operation.
Rhiannon Do and Peter Pham are among those accused in the county’s lawsuit of a fraud scheme to divert funds intended to feed needy seniors and build a war memorial, to instead pay for million-dollar homes and improvements to the homes.
Requests for comment were not returned by Supervisor Do, Rhiannon Do or Peter Pham. Peter Pham told the Los Angeles Times on Thursday that the situation was a "misunderstanding" and that he "didn't do anything wrong."
An O.C. Superior Court spokesperson said Cheri Pham is unable to comment due to California judicial ethics rules barring judges from commenting on law enforcement actions or pending court cases.
On Friday, David Wiechert, an attorney who said he had been retained to represent Rhiannon Do, told LAist Rhiannon Do is a "very honest, law-abiding, hardworking young woman."
"It’s our intention to demonstrate to the government the error of their ways if they think she’s done something wrong,” he said.
The raid of Rhiannon Do’s home in Tustin
An LAist reporter saw at least six law enforcement officers outside Rhiannon Do’s home and around the front doorway Thursday morning. Around 11:20 a.m., an LAist reporter at the scene overheard a law enforcement agent say Rhiannon Do was inside the home. Law enforcement officers were inside at the time as well. A neighbor told LAist that he saw Rhiannon Do come in with the agents when they first entered the house earlier this morning.
Law enforcement at a house purchased by Rhiannon Do in Tustin.
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Jill Replogle
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LAist
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The IRS’ criminal division was involved in the raid on Rhiannon Do’s house. Most of the agents observed by LAist wore black shirts with "POLICE IRS-CI" printed on the back. An LAist reporter also overheard an agent telling a private investigator that they were with IRS' criminal investigation division.
A spokesperson for the Orange County District Attorney’s Office confirmed they were involved in the raids but declined to comment further.
Rhiannon Do purchased the home last year for $1.035 million, according to Zillow and real estate records reviewed by LAist.
Law enforcement near a Tustin house that Rhiannon Do, the daughter of O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do, purchased.
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Jill Replogle
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LAist
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Larry Thomas, who lives next door to the house, told LAist around 9:45 a.m. that officers were standing guard outside. He said he was hearing what he described as “slamming and quite a bit of noise” from inside the house.
A photo obtained by LAist shows what appears to be an evidence marker in front of a small structure on the property. The white rectangular sign states “ROOM P.” An LAist reporter overheard an agent next to the home say, "Remember, you’re looking for documents.” An agent also noted finding a large amount of Christmas decorations.
Farzin Noohi, a private investigator, who said he was working with Rhiannon Do's lawyer, speaks to law enforcement in Tustin as the raid was underway.
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Jill Replogle
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LAist
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Shortly before 1:30 p.m., an agent exited the house with two large rectangular boxes and drove away.
Federal agents were at the Tustin home for nearly eight hours.
At one point, agents came out and put a file folder, three file boxes and a black trash bag, half full, into a car.
Shortly after 5 p.m. an LAist reporter saw five agents exit the home and leave in five separate vehicles.
Supervisor Do and Rhiannon Do have been in and out of the house in recent days, Thomas told LAist on Wednesday. Rhiannon in particular, he said, has been in and out of the house more in the last 48 hours than in the year-plus since buying it.
Earlier this week, Thomas told LAist that there have been no signs anyone ever moved into the home, in the year or so since Rhiannon Do bought it.
He said that in the first few months after the purchase, a significant amount of work appeared to be done on the house, including the sound of electric saws.
“You could hear, every day, hammers and saws and heavy equipment,” Thomas said.
The backstory
LAist revealed last December that the nonprofit, Viet America Society, had failed to account for what happened with millions of dollars in taxpayer money Do had provided the group.
Rhiannon Do in a YouTube video posted in August 2021 by the Steinberg Institute where she was an intern.
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Screenshot via YouTube
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In response to LAist’s questions in April about the funding her father directed to the nonprofit and the home purchase, Rhiannon Do did not answer if any county funds provided to her nonprofit were used to purchase the home. She denied that anything improper took place and said she worked hard for her home.
After the county gave the nonprofit months of opportunities this year to provide required proof, it ended up filing a lawsuit last week alleging a sweeping fraud scheme to divert money that was meant to feed vulnerable seniors during the pandemic. Among the county’s allegations are that funding was illegally diverted to buying multiple homes, including Rhiannon Do’s home in Tustin.
Supervisor Do has not responded to LAist’s requests for comment over the last nine months. He has denied any wrongdoing in interviews with other media. State law does not require the disclosure of his family tie to the nonprofit he funded with taxpayer money. The state Legislature is advancing a bill that would change that.
Responses to the searches
Santa Ana CityCouncilmember Thai Viet Phan, the first Vietnamese American elected to the council, called for the “immediate resignation” of Supervisor Do.
“While innocent until proven guilty, Supervisor Do has lost the trust of our community and should not retain power over a $9.3 billion budget,” Phan said.
Community organizations VietRISE and Harbor Institute for Immigrant & Economic Justice also called for the resignation of Supervisor Andrew Do.
“Residents continue to face skyrocketing rents, evictions, and homelessness, yet Supervisor Do used his position to divert taxpayer dollars towards million-dollar properties for his own family and friends,” the statement from both organizations said. “Supervisor Do has failed the residents of his own District, including the working-class immigrants and refugees of Little Saigon.”
State Sen. Dave Min issued a statement saying he was glad federal authorities were investigating allegations of public corruption in Orange County.
“For too long, Orange County has been seen as a place where corruption and abuse of the public trust are part of the political culture,” he said.
Min’s Rebuilding Public Trust Act, which was inspired by LAist’s reporting, is currently awaiting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature and would require elected officials to recuse themselves from votes that would award government contracts to their family members. He said he hoped the raids would be motivation for the governor to sign the legislation.
Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley said she anticipates the raids will “uncover additional evidence that proves the brazen criminal conspiracy by these individuals who stole millions to enrich themselves instead of feeding hungry, disabled seniors.”
Meeting coming up next week
The O.C. Board of Supervisors is scheduled to meet Tuesday for their regularly scheduled meeting.
Attend in person: The Board of Supervisors meets in the County Administration North, Board Hearing Room, First Floor, 400 W Civic Center Dr, Santa Ana.
Listen to the meeting via phone: Call (866) 590-5055. Access code: 4138489
To submit a comment, you can attend in person, dial in or submit a comment via email to response@ocgov.com.
Catch up on the investigation
In November 2023, LAist began investigating how millions in public taxpayer dollars were spent. In total, LAist has uncovered over $13 million in public money was approved to a little-known nonprofit that records state was led on and off by Rhiannon Do, the now 23-year-old daughter of Supervisor Do. Most of that money was directed to the group by Supervisor Do outside of the public’s view and never appeared on public meeting agendas. He did not publicly disclose his family ties.
Much of the known funding came from federal coronavirus relief money.
Since we started reporting, we’ve also uncovered the group was two years overdue in completing a required audit into whether the meal funds were spent appropriately.
And we found the amount of taxpayer money directed to the nonprofit was much larger than initially known. It totals at least $13.5 million in county funding — tallied from government records obtained and published by LAist.
After our reporting, O.C. officials wrote demand letters to the nonprofit saying millions in funding were unaccounted for. They warned it could be forced to repay the funds.
And, we found the nonprofit missed a deadline set by county officials to provide proof about how funding for meals were spent.
On Aug. 2, LAist reported O.C. officials were demanding the refund of more than $3 million in public funds awarded by Do to VAS and another nonprofit, Hand to Hand.
Six days later, LAist reported Orange County officials had expanded demands for refunds of millions in tax dollars from the nonprofits and threatened legal action.
Then, on Aug. 19, LAist reported O.C. officials had announced a second lawsuit against Hand to Hand and its CEO to recover millions of taxpayer dollars that were directed by Supervisor Do.
Yusra Farzan
covers Orange County and its 34 cities, watching those long meetings — boards, councils and more — so you don’t have to.
Published January 29, 2026 1:34 PM
Volunteers survey people sleeping in their cards during Orange County's biennial tally of unhoused people.
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Yusra Farzan
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LAist
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Topline:
In the wee hours of Thursday morning, groups of three and four people headed out from the El Toro Public Library in Lake Forest for the last day of Orange County’s biennial count of unhoused people. The survey helps officials decide what services are needed and keep track of changing demographics and trends.
What volunteers observed: Rocio Palafox and Cameron Pastrano from Orange County’s Office of Care Coordination together with volunteer Mike Kimball went out to survey Irvine Thursday morning. All the unhoused people they encountered were living in their cars parked at places like Irvine’s Metrolink station and long term parking lots. “ Over and over again, what we heard was financial, loss of a job and the challenge to be able to continue paying rent and it sort of began this spiraling effect,” said Becks Heyhoe-Khalil, executive director of United to End Homelessness.
Challenges with the count: Heyhoe-Khalil said she’s been part of the counts for many years. This year, for the first time, she noticed “ there was a little bit more hesitancy around responding and participating in the survey itself.”
Why the count matters: The point in time count — required to take place during the last 10 days of January — helps the federal government allocate funds toward addressing homelessness. State and county officials use those funds to assess what programs and services are needed on the ground.
In the wee hours of Thursday morning, groups of three and four people headed out from the El Toro Public Library in Lake Forest for the last day of Orange County’s biennial count of unhoused people. The survey helps officials decide what services are needed and keep track of changing demographics and trends.
The last point in time count in Orange County saw a spike of around 28% in the number of unhoused people, with around 7,300 people experiencing homelessness. Results for the point in time count usually come out in May.
What volunteers observed
Rocio Palafox and Cameron Pastrano from Orange County’s Office of Care Coordination together with volunteer Mike Kimball went out to survey Irvine Thursday morning. All the unhoused people they encountered were living in their cars parked at places like Irvine’s Metrolink station and long term parking lots.
They were just waking up as they answered the anonymous survey.
Rocio Palafox and Cameron Pastrano navigate to a canvassing area during Orange County's biennial count of unhoused people.
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Yusra Farzan
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LAist
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One of the people surveyed — who asked that LAist not identify her as she is in the process of applying for jobs — was 59 years old and said she has been sleeping in her car for over a year.
“ Lost my job and lost my place to live because of it,” she said. “ Rent is crazy, can't afford it. You need more than one job.”
Another person, 61, also said she’s living in her car because she has trouble finding work. She also asked that LAist not use her name as she is hoping to land a job soon.
“ I got laid off from two jobs at the same time right before Christmas, which was really hard,” she said.
Becks Heyhoe-Khalil, executive director of United to End Homelessness, tallied people experiencing homelessness in Costa Mesa, where all the people she encountered were sleeping on the streets.
“ Over and over again, what we heard was financial, loss of a job and the challenge to be able to continue paying rent and it sort of began this spiraling effect,” she said.
When wages are stagnant and do not increase with the rising cost of living, Heyhoe-Khalil said, it’s “ a really dangerous recipe for people to fall through the cracks and end up experiencing homelessness.”
Challenges with the count
Heyhoe-Khalil said she’s been part of the counts for many years. This year, for the first time, she noticed “ there was a little bit more hesitancy around responding and participating in the survey itself.”
Many people declined to take part in the survey, she said, worried about entering some of their information into the system.
Even in Irvine, Palafox and Pastrano encountered a handful of people who declined to answer the survey, but they still entered the data as observational.
Doug Becht, director of Orange County’s Office of Care Coordination, which leads homelessness efforts, said in south Orange County cities, most unhoused people live in their cars, which can make it challenging to engage with them.
”Vehicles move quite often, so that care can sometimes be choppy,” he said.
South O.C. also has the least amount of shelter beds, he said, so finding supportive housing can be a challenge. And those cities have long resisted plans to build temporary shelters.
Instead, the county has tried to engage South O.C. cities to develop other forms of support, Becht said. In San Juan Capistrano, the city hall is now only located on the bottom floor, the rest has been converted to supportive housing.
Why the point in time count matters
The point in time count — required to take place during the last 10 days of January — helps the federal government allocate funds toward addressing homelessness. State and county officials use those funds to assess what programs and services are needed on the ground.
Becht said the count also helps the county engage with people experiencing homelessness. Once they have a person on the radar, it will allow outreach teams to go back out and try to get them off the streets and into temporary housing.
The biggest takeaway from the last count in 2024, he said, “was that we have a bottleneck in our shelters.”
“We just don't have places to put them. And the longer they are in the shelter, that means the longer I have to wait to help people on the street move into the shelter,” he added.
Libby Rainey
has been tracking how L.A. is prepping for the 2028 Olympic Games.
Published January 29, 2026 12:55 PM
The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is among the Olympic venues for the 2028 Games.
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Sean M. Haffey
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Getty Images
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Topline:
L.A. County is considering plans to remove potentially thousands of unhoused people from areas around sports venues ahead of the Olympic Games in 2028.
What is the report: County officials issued a strategy report last week advising local governments on how to clear people from encampments near major events and move them into temporary housing. However, the same report notes that there are concerns there won't be enough beds and there's no new funding for such an effort.
Reaction: Shayla Myers with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles said the plan is aimed at eliminating visible signs of homelessness for the Olympics, rather than actually addressing the root causes of the housing crisis.
Read on... for more what else is in the report.
L.A. County is considering plans to remove potentially thousands of unhoused people from areas around sports venues ahead of the Olympic Games in 2028.
County officials issued a strategy report last week advising local governments on how to clear people from encampments near major events and move them into temporary housing. However, the same report notes that there are concerns there won't be enough beds and there's no new funding for such an effort.
Sarah Mahin, L.A. County's director of Homelessness Services and Housing, submitted the report at the direction of the Board of Supervisors. It’s one of the first indications of how homelessness in the region might be approached ahead of and during the Olympic Games.
Shayla Myers with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles said the plan is aimed at eliminating visible signs of homelessness for the Olympics, rather than addressing the root causes of the housing crisis.
" You're not actually getting people off the streets. You're simply attempting to make specific locations clear," she said of the county's approach. "It is about taking resources to clear encampments in the most visible locations when you have cameras and tourists all putting their focus on Los Angeles."
L.A. County's Homeless Services and Housing Department did not immediately return requests for comment.
Efforts to remove unhoused people will focus on the security perimeters of Olympic venues, according to the county's report.
"The County will use any established security perimeters…to identify and coordinate with host jurisdictions to prioritize encampments that may be affected," Mahin wrote.
LA28, the private nonprofit planning the Olympics, also told the county that those security perimeters would be its focus, according to the report.
“In the event that LA28 is advised that relocating unhoused individuals may be necessary for their own safety, we will ensure that the appropriate local government stakeholders have sufficient time to plan for the necessary services and housing support,” LA28 wrote in a statement to LAist.
A spokesperson for L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said her office was in touch with the report's authors to "discuss next steps in continuing efforts to address this humanitarian crisis."
As part of the regional strategy, the county has developed a tool to estimate costs for cities looking at removing encampments around venues. That tool allows local jurisdictions to enter the expected number of people, the percentage of individuals who will go into shelters, and how many people will need long-term housing support.
How LA houses unhoused people
L.A. has several distinct programs that house people, but they can be broken up into a few broad categories:
Temporary housing: Whatever you think of as a “homeless shelter” would be included here. This kind of housing isn’t meant to be long term — whether it’s group shelters, tiny home villages, or repurposed hotels and motels. The goal of these programs is for people to stay until they can find permanent housing.
Permanent housing: This is housing you can stay in long term, like an apartment with a renewable yearlong lease. The government provides permanent housing for unhoused people in two main ways:
Tenant-based vouchers: Think of these sort of as housing coupons that make privately owned units affordable for people with low incomes.
New permanent housing units: These are either newly constructed with government money (like Proposition HHH) or existing units that local governments acquire for housing.
Myers with the Legal Aid Foundation said she appreciated the county's focus on moving people into shelters, but that the plan would open up unhoused people to possible criminalization.
"The first round is to offer shelter, and the second round is often to bring in cops or to put up fences or to invest in citations," she said.
The report includes the latest "point in time" count of people living outside in the council districts of Los Angeles hosting Olympic events, as well as other host cities like Long Beach and Pasadena. In total, that number is more than 5,300 people.
"However, the number of unsheltered individuals in the areas immediately surrounding event venues should be reassessed closer to event dates to ensure an accurate estimate," the report states.
County supervisors Hilda Solis and Janice Hahn introduced a motion asking for the report in 2024, referencing concerns about public perception of local government's approach to homelessness ahead of many major events coming to Los Angeles.
"Efforts to address homelessness in advance of international sporting events in other jurisdictions have had uneven results, leading to accusations that governments are busing unhoused individuals to the outskirts of host cities without addressing the underlying lack of shelter capacity," the motion states.
The county's guidance points out that additional resources for plans to clear encampments at this point don't exist.
Representatives for Long Beach, for example, told the county that it could be challenging to secure motel rooms for interim housing at typical rates around the Olympics. The city also expressed concern about unsheltered people and at-risk tenants being displaced.
Clearing encampments without enough housing resources could lead to displacing more unhoused people and those at risk of homelessness, Mahin wrote.
2028 Olympics FAQ
How is Los Angeles preparing for the Games? Who is on the hook to pay for the 2028 Olympics?
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Kevin Tidmarsh
is a producer for LAist, covering news and culture. He’s been an audio/web journalist for about a decade.
Published January 29, 2026 12:24 PM
Shirley Raines attends TikTok House Party at VidCon 2022 in Anaheim. She died this week at age 58.
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Vivien Killilea
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Getty Images for TikTok
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Topline:
Shirley Raines, who focused her work on building up the dignity of unhoused people in L.A., has died. She was 58.
About Raines: Known as Ms. Shirley to friends and followers on social media, Raines won a CNN Hero of the Year award in 2021 and an NAACP Image Award in 2025 for her work providing food, makeovers and hygiene products to unhoused people through Beauty 2 the Streetz.
Raines’ background: Raines, who is from Compton, turned to personal beauty to help her cope with the loss of her young son decades ago, focusing her efforts on building up the dignity of all people, even those society would consider “broken.”
"This surely hasn't been easy. I stand before you a very broken woman," she said when accepting her CNN award in 2021. “There are a lot of people in the street that are without a mother, and I feel like it's a fair exchange. I'm here for them."
Raines's cause of death is not yet known. She is survived by her sister and five of her six children, who often appeared in her social media posts.
Beauty 2 The Streetz founder Shirley Raines attends the 2022 Long Beach Pride Parade in Long Beach, California. She was grand marshal for the parade that year.
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Chelsea Guglielmino
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Getty Images North America
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What Beauty 2 the Streetz has said: “This loss is devastating to the entire Beauty 2 The Streetz team, the communities we serve, and the countless individuals whose lives were forever changed by Ms. Shirley’s love, generosity, and selfless service,” the organization said in an Instagram post announcing Raines’ death. “Her legacy will continue to live on through the work she started and the hearts she touched.”
About Beauty 2 the Streetz: Even before starting her nonprofit, Raines did outreach work on Skid Row. She started Beauty 2 the Streetz as a social media page in 2017 after Skid Row residents complimented her style as she was doing outreach work. So she gave them makeovers, growing from a social media page to a full-fledged nonprofit.
Department of Health Care Services headquarters in Sacramento.
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Rahul Lal
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CalMatters
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Topline:
Close to 4,000 employees of the California Department of Public Health were told they must use the federal E-Verify system to keep federal funding. Unions are pushing back.
More details: In the memo, a department human resources deputy director asked employees to comply with a series of deadlines that culminate on April 10. A separate document distributed by the department said that failing to complete the verification may result in the state losing a contract with the Centers for Disease Control for the national death index, which collects death certificate data from authorities nationwide.
Union response: SEIU Local 1000 President Anica Walls told CalMatters in an email that forcing all employees to use E-Verify “raised serious concerns for our members about privacy, data security, and the unnecessary re-verification of workers who are already legally employed.”
Read on... for more about the memo and response to it.
About 4,000 California Department of Public Health employees have been told they must use a federal verification system to prove they’re U.S. citizens.
Leaders of the agency said in a memo obtained by CalMatters that the verification is necessary to receive federal funding, but employees and unions are resisting the directive.
In the memo, a department human resources deputy director asked employees to comply with a series of deadlines that culminate on April 10. A separate document distributed by the department said that failing to complete the verification may result in the state losing a contract with the Centers for Disease Control for the national death index, which collects death certificate data from authorities nationwide.
The department is also making the move to address incomplete employment eligibility records identified in a recent audit, according to the Service Employees Union International Local 1000, which represents roughly 3,000 department employees.
As at other U.S. employers, all new California health department employees complete a federal I-9 form to prove their citizenship. The department is now asking them to enroll in E-Verify, a program administered by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Social Security Administration. That system compares information provided by an employee on the I-9 to records in federal databases, including at Social Security and the Department of Homeland Security. In some cases it also prompts employers to compare each applicant’s identification document photo with the one they provided during the E-Verify process. The memo said employees will specifically use E-Verify+, which combines filling out an I-9 with verification. Employees hired before November can opt out of using that specific version of E-Verify.
SEIU Local 1000 President Anica Walls told CalMatters in an email that forcing all employees to use E-Verify “raised serious concerns for our members about privacy, data security, and the unnecessary re-verification of workers who are already legally employed.”
The union sent a petition to executives in charge of the state agency last month to express concern about the verification and underline that employees submitted documents to prove their citizenship when they were hired. Walls told CalMatters the health agency is currently the only California state department the union is aware of that has asked their employees to recertify their citizenship status. The union represents about 100,000 state employees at 140 state agencies, boards, commissions and departments.
“When federal systems and funding conditions are used to justify expanded data collection from workers, it raises red flags — especially when those workers have already met employment eligibility requirements,” she wrote. “Our members are concerned about their personal data being sent to federal systems with known accuracy and security issues. And this is coming at a time when both U.S. citizens and immigrant workers are understandably concerned about how employment data could be accessed or used by federal agencies.”
The E-Verify+ requirement is creating fear and uncertainty among employees and may affect employee recruitment and retention in the future, said Jacqueline Tkac, president of the California Association of Professional Scientists-UAW Local 1115, a union that represents roughly 800 health department employees. Amid reports of ICE activity at workplaces and people being taken off the street, the timing could not be worse.
“E-verify+ is not a neutral administrative tool. It’s deeply integrated with DHS databases, including systems used by ICE, and relies on biometrics and cross-agency data sharing,” she said in a statement shared with CalMatters. “Introducing this at a time when immigrant communities and public health scientists are being openly targeted by the current federal administration is extremely chilling.”
The California Department of Public Health did not respond to multiple requests to answer questions. State information officer Nicole Skow told CalMatters that the California Department of Human Resources does not monitor how state agencies verify employment eligibility and that use of E-Verify is determined at a department level.
It raises red flags — especially when those workers have already met employment eligibility requirements.
— Anica Walls, president, SEIU Local 1000
Since it became available in the 1990s, E-Verify has been, by default, a voluntary program for employers, but it has become mandatory for more and more of them over time. The federal government has required E-Verify for certain contracts since 2009 and more than 20 states now require E-Verify for their own contracts or to issue business licenses. Earlier this month, Florida lawmakers passed a bill that requires employers of all sizes to use the federal program.
Critics of E-Verify say the program needs reforms to address instances in which it makes mistakes, including cases where people commit identity fraud to get jobs they shouldn’t have and false positives leading people to lose jobs that they were lawfully allowed to have. Based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data and the E-Verify error rate, if Congress passed an E-Verify mandate today, the citizenship status of more than 120,000 people would get inaccurately labeled, allowing ineligible immigrants to work and labeling some U.S. citizens ineligible to work, which could lead to loss of wages or jobs, said Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland, during a hearing last month where members of Congress debated a bill that would require E-Verify use for all federal contracts.
The health department’s push to prove citizenship comes at a time when the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is ramping up I-9 audits that may precede raids. It also comes on the heels of ICE agents shooting and killing two people in Minnesota, the deaths of multiple people in ICE detention facilities, and multiple news reports that the Department of Homeland Security wants to bring similar tactics to California and New York.
It’s possible the department wants to prepare for or forestall an audit from ICE. I-9 audits increased in Minnesota in recent weeks, Minneapolis-based immigration attorney Matthew Webster told CalMatters. Webster said some appear indiscriminate, with audit notices “basically just being dropped off door to door,” and some seeming to be retaliatory, like a hospital where staff protested ICE’s treatment of a patient shortly before the hospital was audited, and a St. Paul toy store that gave away whistles that protesters use to alert their neighbors to ICE activity, also shortly before it was audited. Webster expects such audits to become more commonplace as tens of billions of dollars continue to pour into the law enforcement agency from the federal budget.
A set of “Frequently Asked Questions” drafted by the California Department of Public Health and distributed to employees describes E-Verify+ as intended to “reduce errors, streamline onboarding, and improve the overall employee experience.”
But one employee, who asked to remain anonymous to avoid retaliation, told CalMatters that in light of recent events, they’re concerned about the department providing employee photos to the Department of Homeland Security under E-Verify. They also said the health department should have made it clearer that employees could opt out of the “plus” version of E-Verify and should extend this option to people hired since November, who must always use E-Verify+, according to the questions document.
“Nowhere in the memo does it tell us we can opt out,” they said. “That information only came after employees raised concerns to the director.”
