Houston: Day-labor issue dominates town hall meeting

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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5165253.html

Day-labor issue dominates town hall meeting

Opponents of illegal immigration took over a town hall meeting Tuesday night in northwest Houston, expressing their strong opposition to a proposed day labor center on Steubner-Airline Road.

About 200 people attended the meeting at Cypress Creek Christian Church, and peppered Roman Catholic Dean Sam Dunning with questions about the Church's stand on immigration.

Many in the crowd identified themselves as members of U.S. Border Watch, a local organization that has recently been protesting gatherings of day laborers seeking work on the busy road in northwest Houston.

The Cypress Creek Interfaith Coalition for Economic Development, formed to promote several economic developments proposals in the area, had proposed the creation of a day labor center.

Franklin Moore, an associate pastor at Cypress Creek Christian Church, read from the proposal for a day labor center, saying that "Organized day labor sites are unrelated to the immigration process. The immigration process is a federal issue. An organized day labor site is a community's response to the economic, safety and humanitarian issues raised by the day labor work force."

Curtis Collier, president of U.S. Border Watch, disagreed, saying the coalition statement was "false."

"The majority of people who seek employment at a street corner or a day labor site are illegal aliens," Collier said. "About 97 percent of the people are illegal aliens."

Collier said that his organization is strongly opposed to the proposed day labor center.

"The fact is, opening another day labor site is detrimental to securing the border of this nation," Collier said.

Dunning did not dispute Collier's assertion that day labor centersare places where undocumented workers seek employment.

In response to one questioner from the audience, Dunning said there was no attempt by the faith coalition to "cover up" their concerns about poor people seeking work in this country.

"I'm not afraid of the immigration issue," Dunning said. "I think it's indisputable that a large number of day laborers are illegal. But there is an economic need for their labor. In an ideal world, all the people would be documented, they would be paying federal income taxes — they are already paying lots of taxes. But our system is broken," Dunning said.

After dozens of questions about illegal immigration, Dunning said that immigrants who gather on street corners "are not begging for a dollar. They stand in the streets asking for the opportunity to earn a dollar."

At times, the meeting erupted with emotion.

One man asked Dunning how he would minister to the family of an Arizona police officer who was killed Monday by an illegal immigrant.

Dunning said that his father was a police officer and a three-term sheriff.

"I resent the implication that because I support immigration reform, I am soft on crime," he responded.

Dunning said the U.S. Conference of Bishops had just joined with other faith-based groups in endorsing "humane" immigration reforms.

Collier said that U.S. Border Watch will continue to protest the day laborers on Steubner-Airline Road. Members of the organization also are circulating petitions, asking customers of merchants along the street to ask the Harris County Sheriff's Department to enforce criminal trespass laws against day laborers who gather in their parking lots seeking work.

[AirborneSapper7]

Tax exempt status needs to be removed for any church that does not seperate the Church from State Issues