Advocating for legal protections for domestic workers (Part 2)

By Narimes Parakul

This story comes to us from Feet in 2 Worlds, an independent media outlet and journalism training program that empowers the voices of immigrant journalists. It is part of Surveilled and Sold, an investigative series from Feet in 2 Worlds about how surveillance technologies track immigrants in an era of mass deportation — and the ways private companies and the U.S. government buy, sell, and exchange our personal data.

Concerns like Felicia’s are rising among her colleagues. Daniela Perez is the Media Relations Director at the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA), a nonprofit organization advocating for domestic workers’ rights. Perez says she’s heard recent reports of employers threatening to report their employees to ICE when domestic workers raise concerns about their wages or professional treatment. Felicia has heard the same among her nanny friends in New York.

With increased surveillance come more opportunities to harvest people’s personal data. And one prominent company in particular demonstrates a willingness to collaborate with federal immigration enforcement efforts. 

As of 2023, an estimated 10 million Americans use Ring cameras in and outside their homes. Amazon, Ring’s parent company, has ties with federal immigration agencies like DHS and ICE. Reports from 2022 show that law enforcement has routinely obtained footage from cameras like the ones in Felicia’s employers’ homes without warrants — sometimes without the knowledge or consent of the camera owners.

Ring and the Police

Ring also has a longstanding relationship with police. The company advertises a feature within its app called the Neighbors Public Safety Service as a way to foster collaboration between law enforcement, fire departments, and camera users to enhance community safety, according to Ring. Another service called Community Requests allows police agencies to request footage from cameras in a specific area after someone reports a crime. If a camera owner accepts the police request, their footage can be shared with the requesting police agency.

In New Jersey and New York City, where Felicia works, Neighbors is particularly active. 191 police agencies in New Jersey and 135 police agencies in New York participate in Neighbors. Ring has offered the feature to over 2,700 local law enforcement agencies across the country in recent years.

This partnership has been mutually beneficial for both Ring and police: in 2016, the EFF reported that U.S. cities were paying Ring up to $100,000 in matching funds to make cameras cheaper for city residents. City governments were also promoting Ring at city events, bringing in more revenue for the company. In 2019, Motherboard reported that each time a resident downloaded the Neighbors app, local police departments would earn credits from Amazon toward buying cameras they could give to residents. In return, Amazon’s willingness to hand over footage without a warrant makes police work easier. Update: Ring claims that these practices have been discontinued.

Law enforcement can obtain a camera’s footage without the camera owner’s knowledge or consent. This is because Ring footage is stored in the cloud and not within the device itself, so a search request can be served to Amazon directly instead of the camera owner. Ring’s law enforcement guidelines say it will not disclose Ring video to police absent a warrant from a judge or consent from the resident — and does not disclose user information along with video footage. According to Ring’s bi-annual Information Request Reports, the company processed a total of 10,684 information requests from law enforcement and government agencies in 2025. But from those, the company notified only 12% of camera users about those information requests. 

In a statement to Feet in 2 Worlds, a Ring spokesperson said: “Ring does not disclose customer information unless required to do so by law, or in rare emergency situations when there is an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury. Ring’s Community Requests feature is a separate and completely voluntary tool that enables local public safety agencies to publicly post requests for videos from Ring camera owners within a designated area to support a specific investigation. Customers always choose whether to respond to a Community Request and what they share.”

Ring says it has a legal team that reviews all law enforcement requests. But privacy experts argue that Ring’s legal team members are not judges and that Ring is not equipped to make those judgments.

Domestic workers have faced particular challenges when it comes to advocating for labor protections. Historically, legal exclusions targeting domestic workers made unionizing near-impossible. Today, unlike much of the U.S. workforce, domestic workers are not protected under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) or the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA).

They may also find it difficult to unite to share grievances and organize against workplace retaliation or exploitation. Due to the nature of their jobs, many work in isolation in their employers’ homes. Working for individual families — instead of corporations — complicates the potential for nationwide collective bargaining agreements. In lieu of a union, grassroots organizations have worked hard over the past decade to provide alternative spaces for workers to gather, plan, and advocate for their rights.

The fear of constantly being watched and potentially being detained has been pushing Felicia toward leaving the nanny profession entirely. 

In the past year, she says she has experienced an increasing lack of respect from her employers. Other immigrant nannies tell her stories of parents threatening to expose their immigration statuses. Many, including Felicia, say they are afraid to bring children to public parks for fear of being profiled and detained by ICE. 

“We nannies love to be able to take kids out there and feel comfortable,” Felicia says. “But now, we are fearful to even be out there in the parks. This is one of the reasons why I want to slowly transition from being a nanny to being a full-time newborn care specialist.”

Still, she hesitates when she thinks about leaving her nannying days behind.

“I love what I do. When I see [the children’s] happiness, that brings so much joy to my heart,” she says. “It’s very hard. This situation has affected nannies on so many levels.”

Feet in 2 Worlds is supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Ford Foundation, the Fernandez Pave the Way Foundation, the Elizabeth Bond Davis Foundation, an anonymous donor, and contributors to our annual NewsMatch campaign.

Part 1: Immigrant domestic workers are being recorded on the job