Thread: Hiring off the curb? Not in Marietta

DAY LABOR DISPUTE
Hiring off the curb? Not in Marietta
Critics say law violates key rights

By JEREMY REDMON
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/20/07

Marietta police busted Lee Chalfant as soon as the day laborer climbed into his pickup truck.

Chalfant, a home remodeler, said he was hiring the man to help him clean up construction debris from a work site. He picked him up last year just off Powder Springs Street, in an area bustling with young Hispanic men looking for work.
John Spink/AJC


Marietta Officers J.A. Liedke (left) and W.C. Camp (right) listen to an unidentified Latino man's explanation of why he was talking to Harry Lacardere, parked in the background.

From Marietta to Lawrenceville, many metro Atlanta officials have, in fits and starts, tried to rein in day laborers in response to howls from homeowners and businesses. Most recently, Cobb County last month backed off plans to outlaw picking up day laborers or seeking temporary employment on county streets, sidewalks and parking lots.

But for eight years, Marietta has been quietly enforcing the same law, targeting the people who hire day laborers. City police have handed out tickets to builders, landscapers and even homeowners seeking help with lawn work. Their reasons for hiring the day laborers vary, but their actions continue to fuel debate on the issue of illegal immigration. That's because, correctly or not, many presume the majority of day laborers are illegal immigrants.

Chalfant is among about 80 people whom Marietta police have ticketed in the past four years, records show. Some of those who received citations said they were unaware of the law.

But Chalfant should have known better — he is the son of Marietta City Councilman Griffin L. Chalfant Jr.

"I am mortified," said Lee Chalfant, 31, who pleaded guilty and paid a $270 fine last September. "It is horribly embarrassing, for me and probably for [my father], too. He probably could have killed me."

Lee Chalfant said the man was not going to do any work related to any of his father's businesses, which include a fence company.

"He apologized to me. I told him, 'You know better than that,' " said Councilman Chalfant, who took office in 2006, after the city adopted its day labor ordinance.

Anti-illegal immigrant activists applaud Marietta for cracking down, saying many day laborers are illegal immigrants who don't pay taxes and are taking jobs away from American citizens. Critics dismiss those arguments and say Marietta's law is potentially unconstitutional because it could violate day laborers' First Amendment rights. They note that Cobb backed off adopting Marietta's ban because of legal concerns.

Cobb officials cited a recent federal court ruling that struck down laws Hazleton, Pa., adopted to crack down on illegal immigration. The city sought to impose fines on landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and deny business permits to companies that give them jobs.

Marietta officials say their ordinance is legal and that the Hazleton decision had nothing to do with day laborers.

Lawrenceville also has a day labor ordinance on the books, but it applies only to private property. The law bans people from picking up day laborers on private property without the permission of the property owners. It also prohibits people from gathering on private property to solicit temporary employment without the permission of property owners.

Last year, in response to complaints from

homeowners and businesses, Lawrenceville police mounted a major crackdown against day laborers who had been gathering at a strip mall off Grayson Highway near the Forest Place neighborhood. They arrested day laborers for standing on private property. This year, police have issued about 50 citations under the same ordinance, police Chief Randy Johnson said.

Other Atlanta-area communities have dealt with day laborers in various ways. Roswell partly funded an official site for day laborers and employers to meet, but the nonprofit center closed in 2003 for a combination of reasons, including a shortage in volunteers and a decline in local construction jobs, said former Roswell City Councilman Ed Tate.

In Marietta, day laborers typically seek work along Powder Springs Street. Shop owners in that area have complained that laborers standing outside their stores were scaring away customers.

Authorities also are concerned the laborers could get hit by cars while scrambling after trucks carrying potential employers.

"We are not targeting any group or race," Marietta police Lt. Mike Hathaway said recently just before he patrolled the area around Westside Plaza. "We are looking at quality of life and crime."

Marietta police say they have had success by primarily targeting the businessmen who pick up the day laborers. That has pushed much of the problem just outside the city.

Among those ticketed under Marietta's law is Timothy Al-Awabdy. Police issued him a citation in January after he picked up two Hispanic day laborers at a gas station just off Powder Springs. Al-Awabdy, 45, said he planned to pay the men up to $10 an hour to mow lawns for his small Smyrna landscaping business.

Al-Awabdy said he doesn't check whether his temporary workers are in the country legally and leaves it up to them to pay taxes on their wages. He faults the federal government for not securing the country's borders.

"If they are illegal, why doesn't Immigration [enforcement] come pick them up and take them?" said Al-Awabdy, who paid a $270 fine in March.

Marietta police also have ticketed homeowners looking for help with simple lawn work.

In November, for example, Myron Stephens picked up a Hispanic laborer to clean out his gutters. He said he planned to pay him about $10 for an hour of work. Police stopped Stephens just off Powder Springs in January. He pleaded no contest and paid a $150 fine.

"I'm 70 years old and will soon be 71 and I'm getting a little bit too old to get on the roof," said Stephens, a Lockheed Martin retiree from Marietta. "When you are caught, you are caught."

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/ ... _0920.html

"I'm 70 years old and will soon be 71 and I'm getting a little bit too old to get on the roof," said Stephens, a Lockheed Martin retiree from Marietta. "When you are caught, you are caught."

High school and college kids would do this...I did these kind of jobs as a kid ...