Colorado businesses facing $8 million in fines for employment law violations, including hiring unauthorized migrant workers — but here’s why undocumented workers are paying the highest price

“So, they went through with a civil violation of that and fined these companies for employing people who are unlawfully present in the United States and unauthorized to work (there).”

Undocumented workers pay a price

While the businesses face financial consequences from such audits, undocumented workers pay a high price on the job. Here's how they're typically impacted.

Wage theft

When employers knowingly hire unauthorized workers, they sometimes exploit that status to skirt labor laws, resulting in wage theft.

According to a report from the Economic Policy Institute, workers lose over $15 billion each year due to minimum wage violations alone — a burden that disproportionately affects immigrant and undocumented workers.

Benefits loss and job instability

Undocumented workers are rarely offered employee benefits like health insurance, paid sick leave or unemployment protections.

Their precarious legal standing often prevents them from reporting labor violations like unsafe conditions, wage theft or harassment.

For many, this is due to fear of retaliation or immigration consequences, including deportation.

But some workers also have visas tied to a specific employer, meaning that employer controls their visa status along with their livelihood.

Financial strain and tax implications

Although many undocumented workers pay taxes — often through Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) — they're ineligible for many public benefits funded by those taxes.

They're also more likely to face budgeting strain due to unpredictable income, lack of formal employment contracts and vulnerability to sudden job loss during enforcement actions.