Thread: CA: Report: 80% of day laborers not legal

Know this area very very well.
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Report: 80% of day laborers not legal
Orange City Council to discuss options for day laborers including permits and increased enforcement at sites.
By COURTNEY BACALSO
The Orange County Register


ORANGE – The Orange City Council today will discuss a far-reaching, multipronged approach to dealing with the problems surrounding day laborers in the city.

Among the proposals: having day laborers obtain and display a permit issued by the city.

In a report obtained by The Orange County Register, City Attorney David DeBerry is urging changes in the way the city-operated day-labor Resource Center operates and increasing enforcement at sites around the city where day laborers solicit work.

DeBerry's report says 80 percent of the workers who use the Resource Center do not comply with federal immigration laws and that many are from outside the city. The report says workers come from Anaheim and Santa Ana because the Orange center is less crowded and the pay is better.

DeBerry also cites problems he says the laborers create around the city, from public urination to gambling on sidewalks. Among his proposals is one requiring workers and those who allow them to congregate on their property to get and display permits. Two forms of identification would be required to obtain the permit to make sure federal immigration laws are followed.

“I want to make it clear that we aren't condoning the solicitation of work,â€

Day laborers turned away from Orange center
Only 6 of 30 who show up day after new ID requirement is reinstated are able to comply.
By COURTNEY BACALSO
The Orange County Register


ORANGE – More than two dozen day laborers were turned away from the Resource Center on Wednesday morning for not being able to meet new identification requirements, city officials said.

The Orange City Council on Tuesday night reinstated a requirement that day laborers provide proper identification and follow federal immigration laws when using the center, a move designed to curtail what's considered a citywide day-labor problem.

“It's only day one after council discussion, and we are here because there is a lot of explaining to them regarding our new procedure,â€

Few Orange day laborers ready for new restrictions
City Council reinstates policy requiring 2 forms of ID for workers to use city Resource Center.
By ELLYN PAK AND COURTNEY BACALSO
The Orange County Register


ORANGE – Many of the day laborers seeking employment at the city's Resource Center aren't prepared to meet the new city requirements, city officials said this morning.

Effective today, workers will be required to provide two forms of identification at the McPherson Resource Center, which officials said previously failed to alleviate the city's overall day-laborer problem.

Day laborers will also have to fill out federal compliance forms once city staff has translated them into Spanish.

The Orange City Council on Tuesday night reinstated a requirement for day laborers at a city-run employment center to provide proper identification, an action intended to curtail what's considered a citywide day-laborer problem.

"It's only Day One after council discussion, and we are here because there is a lot of explaining to them regarding our new procedure," said Marie Knight, director of Community Services, an hour after the center opened for business this morning. "Nobody has left despite not being prepared. About 30 folks are here engaged in discussion."

The council's action asks staff to return with a set of regulations that could require day laborers and employers to obtain permits, and is part of a broad effort to tackle issues with day laborers that have existed for decades.

"It's getting out of hand," resident Leo Castro told officials. "I feel personally that the only way this is going to be controlled is by the city and Police Department citing the contractors who pick up the workers."

The council decided to keep supporting the $30,000-a-year center, which opened in 1990 with intentions of keeping temporary workers centralized in one location and preventing them from soliciting work elsewhere.

City Attorney David DeBerry said that 80 percent of the workers who solicited work through the center were undocumented. In addition, the center did little to prevent day laborers from congregating at various sites in the city, including public sidewalks and private property.

Residents and business owners continue to complain that large groups of men make lewd gestures, block driveways, urinate and drink alcohol in public, peer into cars, and jaywalk.

Significant resources have been spent to curb those problems.

From June 15 to Sept. 30 of this year, the Orange Police Department worked 510 man hours to handle day-laborer issues, officials said. Last year, officers issued 384 citations for day-labor solicitation, up 34 citations from 2006.

In addition, officers have spent the past 3 1/2 months citing people who hire day-laborers at illegal sites. Nearly half of those who hired the temporary workers were homeowners, DeBerry said.

Councilman Jon Dumitru expressed doubts on whether the resource center would be effective in preventing day laborers from soliciting work at shopping centers and on street corners.

"We've done the coddling, hand-holding and nice-guy stuff to get them to the Resource Center," Dumitru said. "I don't see how we're going to move them to the Resource Center because there would be a level of documentation."

In November, the council plans to discuss stringent regulations, including a requirement that both day laborers and employers obtain permits. In addition, private-property owners who allow solicitation could be required to apply for a conditional-use permit with the city.

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/ne ... 885464.php

Plenty of comments are being left after this story.
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Day laborers stage protest
More than 50 temporary workers and supporters march a mile in Orange.
By ELLYN PAK and ROSALBA RUIZ
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
ORANGE – More than 50 day laborers and their supporters, angry with recently reinstated regulations at a work center, marched down busy Chapman Avenue today.

Protestors walked about a mile from the Resource Center at McPherson Street to what organizers call a "newly formed day laborer corner" near the intersection of Chapman and Tustin Street.

"There's nothing, there's no person, no institution that's above the need of a father or a mother to earn a living and feed their children," said Pablo Alvarado, director of the National Day Labor Organizing Network. "That's a divine mandate, that's a universal, human right that we're protecting today."

The march was a reaction to the City Council's decision last week to reinstate a requirement for day laborers at the resource center to show proper identification and fill out compliance forms in order to comply with federal immigration laws.

A report by City Attorney David DeBerry stated that 80 percent of the resource center users were undocumented and many are not from Orange. The center, which opened in 1990, was created to keep day laborers centralized in one location and prevent them from soliciting work elsewhere.

City officials have plans to discuss even more stringent regulations, including a requirement that both temporary workers and employers obtain and display permits. In addition, private-property owners who allow solicitation could be required to apply for a permit.

Rafael Rodriguez, 21, a regular at the center for more than a year, said some workers considered the center well-organized and a better place to seek work. Unable to provide required identification, Rodriguez has tried to get work by standing at street corners, with little success.

"We gathered at the center so as to not break any city rules," he said. "But now we've been forced to break the rules."

Karin Shannon, a longtime Orange resident who stopped to watch at the protesters, said the problems have made her feel uneasy in her own neighborhood. At times, strangers have hopped over a wall near her home and run through her yard.

"I feel like I'm often made unwelcome in my own country," she said. "If you want respect, respect first."

Today, the protesters obeyed traffic lights, marched on sidewalks with police escorts and chanted. They held up signs, including one that read: "You benefit from my labor. Accept my humanity."

Nearly a dozen Orange police officers who were diverted from other duties stood watch. Immigration and Customs Enforcement usually do not attend such protests or conduct random raids, said Virginia Kice, a local spokeswoman. The agency focuses its resources on criminal offenders.

Jose Arturo, a 52-year-old day laborer who participated in the march, said he started using the resource center in 1990 to find work in landscaping, painting, carpentry and construction.

"We're only looking for work," he said. "We're not bad people. We're not here to commit harm to anyone. We are workers."

Arturo, an Orange resident, said he earns $7 to $10 an hour for temporary work that can last up to two weeks. He said the restrictions at the resource center have forced him to solicit work on the streets.

Soliciting work on sidewalks and private property has led to complaints by residents and business owners, many of who say large groups of men make lewd gestures, block driveways, urinate and drink alcohol in public, peer into cars and jaywalk.

http://www.ocregister.com/news/city-cen ... rch-orange

"There's nothing, there's no person, no institution that's above the need of a father or a mother to earn a living and feed their children," said Pablo Alvarado, director of the National Day Labor Organizing Network. "That's a divine mandate, that's a universal, human right that we're protecting today

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Very touching. But one should not be a father or a mother if one cannot take care of their children without violating the laws and the citizens of another country.

Take your fight back where it belongs...in Mexico.