Carlsbad Police Ticket Day Laborers
About 20 Laborers Cited In Past Two Months

POSTED: 4:40 pm PDT June 17, 2007
UPDATED: 4:50 pm PDT June 17, 2007

CARLSBAD, Calif. -- The Carlsbad Police Department is using an anti-solicitation ordinance originally written for newspaper hawkers to ticket day laborers who ask for work on public streets, according to a newspaper report.

Day laborers in Carlsbad have gathered for years along El Camino Real near the Country Store, where they are hired for temporary work.

To curb the practice, Carlsbad police said they have issued 20 tickets to laborers in the past two months. Advocates for the workers have questioned whether the law is being properly applied.

City officials said the tickets are appropriate.

David Blair-Loy of the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial counties said the citations raise legal questions about whether the law violates the laborers' free speech rights.

Neil Turner, a member of the anti-illegal immigration group, San Diego Minutemen, said he agrees with the use of the ordinance to cite laborers, which he said bring crime to the area.

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/13518278/detail.html