Thread: Laguna Beach residents sue over day laborer site

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/ho ... 295681.php

Tuesday, October 3, 2006
Laguna Beach residents sue over day laborer site
The lawsuit alleges the site is illegal, and asks the city to stop spending taxpayer money
By RACHANEE SRISAVASDI
The Orange County Register
LAGUNA BEACH -- City officials are violating federal law by collecting fees from workers at a day-labor site along Laguna Canyon Road without checking their immigration status, according to a lawsuit filed today.

Judicial Watch, a Washington D.C.-based public interest group, filed the lawsuit on behalf of Eileen Garcia and George Riviere, city residents who say they have vocalized the site's legality to city council members in the past.

The suit, filed in Orange County Superior Court, contends day laborers are charged a $1 referral fee each day he or she gets work, and that employers using the site get $5 for each day laborer hired from the site.

Federal law holds that it is unlawful to hire an undocumented immigrant or refer an immigrant for such employment, according to the suit.

Garcia, who spoke at a news conference in Santa Ana, said she filed the suit because she wants all workers to be documented.

"It's the right thing to do. Taxpayers fund the site,'' she said.

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=73707

Judicial Watch Helps Taxpayers File Lawsuit Against City of Laguna Beach over Day Laborer Site

Press Conference Held At 3 p.m. Today At the Central Justice Center

10/3/2006 5:51:00 PM


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To: State Desk

Contact: Jill Farrell of Organization: Judicial Watch, 202-646-5188, jfarrell@judicialwatch.org

SANTA ANA,Calif., Oct. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has filed a lawsuit in the Orange County Superior Court against the City of Laguna Beach for spending taxpayer funds to operate the Laguna Day Worker Center, a day laborer site that helps illegal aliens find jobs and provides other public benefits, including English language instruction. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Laguna Beach taxpayers Eileen Garcia and George Riviere, who have been very active challenging the day laborer site.

Judicial Watch held a 3 p.m. press conference today to discuss the lawsuit. It was held at Civic Center Plaza, Plaza of the Flags, W. Santa Ana Blvd. and N. Flower Street, Santa Ana, CA. Judicial Watch Civil Litigation Director Paul Orfanedes was present to discuss the lawsuit.

According to public records, the City of Laguna Beach provided a $21,000 grant for Fiscal year 2005-06, and a $22,000 financed grant for Fiscal Year 2006-07 to the South County Cross Cultural Council, a non-profit organization charged with operating the facility. The City of Laguna Beach also uses taxpayer funds to provide portable restroom facilities, trash removal and to pay for leasing the property from the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans).

"By authorizing, ratifying and approving operation of the Center, at which employment referral services and other public benefits are being provided to day laborers without verifying the day laborers' eligibility for employment in the United States, the City of Laguna Beach is violating federal law," Judicial Watch alleges in its complaint.

The City of Laguna Beach has expended taxpayer funds to operate the Laguna Day Worker Center since 1999. Day laborers using the center are charged a $1 referral fee each day he or she receives employment at the facility, while employers using the center pay a fee of $5. The center does not verify whether or not day laborers are eligible to work in the United States and does not require that day laborers provide any formal identification. According to several studies, the large majority of day laborers are in the United States illegally and therefore are not eligible to work in the United States.

Federal law prohibits the hiring of an undocumented worker or referring an alien for employment for a fee, knowing the alien is not authorized for such employment. Federal law also requires verification of eligibility to work in the United States.

"Laguna Beach officials are expending taxpayer dollars to subsidize illegal activity and it must stop," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "Our taxpayer clients have faith that the courts will not allow the City of Laguna Beach to so flagrantly violate the laws of the United States."

A copy of the lawsuit is available on Judicial Watch's Internet site, http://www.judicialwatch.org.

http://www.usnewswire.com/

http://www.latimes.com/news/printeditio ... california

Laguna Beach Is Sued Over Day Laborer Center
Conservative advocacy group files suit alleging city violates federal law by funding facility that helps undocumented workers find jobs.
By Jennifer Delson
Times Staff Writer

October 4, 2006

A conservative advocacy group filed a lawsuit against Laguna Beach on Tuesday, alleging the city is violating federal law by helping undocumented workers find jobs.

The lawsuit was filed in Orange County Superior Court on behalf of Laguna Beach residents Eileen Garcia and her husband, George Riviere. The lawsuit was filed by Judicial Watch, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that has filed similar suits elsewhere.

In the Laguna Beach suit, Garcia and Riviere allege the city is violating federal law by spending public funds to operate the Laguna Day Worker Center on Laguna Canyon Road, where mostly Spanish-speaking workers, among them illegal immigrants, find jobs and get English language instruction.

The lawsuit asks a judge to halt the city's funding of the center.

"We bought our home in Laguna at the height of the market," Garcia said. "We pay $28,000 in property taxes. I don't want that money to pay for illegal activity."

Although the immigration law is federal, the lawsuit was filed in state court because it alleges that local tax dollars are being illegally spent, said Judicial Watch attorney Candice Jackson.

The litigation is just one of the ways anti-illegal immigrant activists are fighting day labor centers around Southern California. Illegal immigrants rely on such centers to find jobs that usually pay less than $10 an hour.

Garcia has repeatedly protested in front of the center and at other locations with the citizen border patrol group, the Minuteman Project.

In September 2005, Judicial Watch filed a similar lawsuit in Herndon County, Va., and has challenged the city of Los Angeles' mandate that requires police not to question suspects they arrest about their immigration status until after criminal charges have been made.

Laguna Beach City Manager Ken Frank said the city had given about $22,000 annually for the last five years to the Cross Cultural Council, which operates the center.

Beginning about 10 years ago, workers were referred to the center, just out of town on Laguna Canyon Road, after the city banned soliciting work from public streets because the dayworkers were bothering residents, Frank said.

"It's not the perfect solution," Frank said. "All I know is the federal government does not have the capacity or the will to handle this local problem.

"We can't bury our heads in the sand and say these people aren't here."

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jennifer.delson@latimes.com