Thread: Crackdown worries workers, employers

http://www.insidebayarea.com/sanmateoco ... ci_3635030

Crackdown worries workers, employers
Tightening immigration laws would impact labor pool in county
By Tara Ramroop, STAFF WRITER

SAN MATEO — Ted Cavallini, owner of Cavallini Construction in San Mateo, would love to hire some extra hands from the city's Worker Resource Center. But pending legislation has him worried that doing so will cost him big.
"We would like to use them, but we have yet to work out a way to do that without the fear of getting punished," said Cavallini, whose business specializes in residential remodeling and low-rise commercial projects.

The federal government is cracking down on illegal immigrants and the employers who hire them — they're mostly found in landscaping, construction and service jobs — with several pending bills.

The legislation ranges in severity from President Bush's proposal for a temporary worker program that would grant legal status for undocumented employees; to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's (R-Tenn.) proposal to fine employers who hire illegal immigrants; to a House of Representatives bill, passed in December, that aims to partially shut down day laborer centers altogether.

All of these bills would have a profound affect on San Mateo's Worker Resource Center.

For Cavallini, increased difficulties in hiring people for temporary work could, in turn, easily increase his prices and dissuade potential customers from hiring him.

"We're very concerned abouthow it'll affect the economy, but it looks bleak," he said.

Jennifer Acosta, whose company has hired some workers for longer-term demolition projects, agreed that day laborers help keep down costs that would otherwise be "through the roof," particularly in this county.

"I do see the position in tightening the laws. But we have to remember that they provide a service that people around here don't want to do," Acosta said.

San Mateo opened the first center for day laborers in 2003. Citing a poor city image and public safety issues, officials, in conjunction with the Samaritan House, gave the workers a safe place to hook up with casual construction employers. The county followed suit last May by opening another in Redwood City, at the old La Fortuna Restaurant.

Before the San Mateo center opened that summer, a couple of hundred of these male workers loitered along the gateway to San Mateo at Third Avenue and Humboldt Street for hours every day, hoping to get work. They stood in or near the edge of the street and residents and local officials deemed it a safety issue.

Samaritan House executive director Kitty Lopez said the center stays out of immigration and documentation issues, simply providing a safe haven for workers.

Robert Muehlbauer, San Mateo's Neighborhood Improvement and housing manager, said the city also takes this stance, acting solely as an impartial third party, not an employment agency or middleman.

"Any documentation issues are between the workers and the employers," said Muehlbauer, who did not want to speculate on the bills' potential repercussions.

But Philip Hwang, staff attorney with the San Francisco-based Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, said the House bill could have serious repercussions for non-profits or government agencies operating the centers.

"The House essentially seeks to shut down these centers completely," said Hwang, who is working on his organization's immigrant rights project. "Governments and non-profits would be treated like employers under this proposal if they choose to keep their centers open."

Still, Mayor John Lee said that regardless of any potential blows to the local economy, this federal-level reform is what the city wanted all along.

"They stuck us with a problem that wasn't ours to fix," Lee said, also not wanting to speculate on any potential effect on San Mateo. "And they're fixing it. I'm absolutely in favor of the federal government doing something about illegals in this country. People wait for 10 years to legally come here and then people come across the border and get ahead of them. It's not fair."

Carlos Romero, manager of the Worker Resource Center, said it's up to the employers to request documentation for their workers. Some do for longer-term jobs and some of the men come with their paperwork in hand.

"But it doesn't happen every day," Romero said.

The men — chosen for jobs based on skill or, more commonly, on a lottery system — typically work for $10 an hour, with a minimum of $25 for two hours. Skilled carpenters, masons or electricians can get more. If the rainy season continues, there isn't much work available.

Some 30 percent of the workers get work each day in the summer, but it's closer to 11 percent this month, Romero said.

Antonio Perez, originally from Mexico, came to San Mateo by way of Michigan. He says, in English he's learning more and more every day, that he hasn't had much luck finding work lately.

Cars and work trucks barely drive into the center's large parking lot, he said. But when they do, the men perk up with hope that this will be their cash cow for the month. They play cards, watch TV and tease each other about machismo, having become friends over their lengthy waits. Most don't know what else to do, short of standing on street corners, to find work.

Pablo Palma has lived in San Mateo for three years, after immigrating from Belize, where his wife and seven children still live, he said through an interpreter. Palma, a brickworker, tries to get work from a friend in construction, but relies heavily on the center he visits every day to find work.

Johnny Rocha, a Nicaraguan immigrant who isn't trained in anything except construction, doesn't have a specific area of expertise, but relies on his broader skills to get work.

"I'll do anything," Rocha said.


Staff writer Tara Ramroop covers San Mateo. She can be reached at (650) 348-4302 or by e-mail at tramroop@sanmateocountytimes.com.

Well, pass me a damn crying towel again!
The news media demands that Americans to feel sorry for any misfortune incurred by an illegal during his trip North. Now they want us to feel sorry for employers who hire them.

If there were a law affording felony purp status to illegals, then their beloved employers could be charged with harboring federal fugatives.

Cry me a million tears......what a bunch of garbage. I think these people just want to get away from their families and their countries. If you are sitting around all day playing cards hoping to find a job. How in the hell did their families survive before they came to America. The real reason is they just want MORE stuff. They see America on TV and think that is the way it is. Everybody is rich and life is easy. Bullfeathers, I know Americans who are having a rough time, as bad as these illegals and I don't see anybody crying for them. Sickening!

let em sweat!!

What they should say is CRIMINAL workers and employers are worried, as they should be. Meanwhile, where is the article about law-abiding workers and employers who are overjoyed with HR4437? Damn open borders media.