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Most day laborers are illegal immigrants with little formal education, report says

By: EDWARD SIFUENTES - Staff Writer

NORTH COUNTY -- A new study shows that day laborers on street corners and in hiring halls make up less than 1 percent of the work force, and that most are in the country illegally.

As local anti-illegal immigration activists intensify their protests over day labor sites, a new statewide study suggests that public attention on this matter is out of proportion to the number of day laborers in California.

The number of people who stand on street corners looking for work make up 0.02 percent of the state's total work force, according to the study by the Public Policy Institute of California, a San Francisco-based private research organization.


The institute is funded by private foundations and conducts research on various policy areas, including health, immigration, government and political participation.

The study appears to bear out other widespread perceptions about this population, including the fact that most of the workers-on-corners are Latino men with little formal education who are in the country illegally.

For many anti-illegal immigration activists, the term day laborer has become synonymous with illegal immigrant.

Arturo Gonzalez, a research fellow with the Public Policy Institute of California who wrote the report, said, "The issue probably attracts so much public and policy attention because its informal nature means that work is solicited in busy public places -- making workers very conspicuous in local communities," Gonzalez said.

Large groups of day laborers can be found in nearly every community in North County. They have made headlines in recent years when anti-illegal immigration groups, such as the San Diego Minutemen and others, have formed in large part to protest the day labor sites.

Day laborers have said they gather in street corners because they can't find work elsewhere for various reasons, including their status as illegal immigrants.

Others say they want to supplement their income from regular jobs, while others say they receive higher pay by working as day laborers.

Activists who oppose day labor sites say most of the workers who gather are illegal immigrants breaking labor laws and bringing down the quality of life in communities across North County.

Most recently, these groups began targeting St. Peter's Catholic Church in Fallbrook, where workers have gathered for more than 15 years.

"Aiding and abetting in the violation of our federal immigration laws, as is being done by St. Peter's Catholic Church of Fallbrook by facilitating an illegal day-laborer hiring site, is a violation of God's laws that state 'everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities,' " Neil Turner, a Carlsbad anti-illegal immigration activist, said in a recent written statement.

According to the study, 80 percent of the estimated 40,000 day laborers in California are working in the state without legal documentation, such as visas or work permits.

About 68 percent of them are from Mexico, 29 percent of them are from other parts of Latin America and about 3 percent were born in the United States.

Gonzalez said he culled information from the National Day Labor Survey conducted in 2004 for his study. The nationwide survey questioned 2,660 day laborers in 139 municipalities and 20 states. The survey was paid by foundation grants and conducted by researchers from three universities, including UCLA.

The work offers above-minimum-wage pay but offers few hours on a weekly average, Gonzalez said. Many of the workers who were questioned in the survey said they are either looking for permanent work or are looking to supplement their earnings from a permanent job, he said.

Day laborers earn on average about $11 an hour but average a weekly total of about $260, primarily because they average about 23 hours of work per week, according to the study. The study reports that day laborers make up about 3 percent of the state's male illegal immigrant work force.

One of the opponents of the day labor sites questioned the study's credibility.

"For every study you present, I can give you 10," said Ray Carney, a Fallbrook resident and anti-illegal immigration activist. "I don't take any credence in what some Ph.D. says. ... Illegal immigration does depress wages and takes jobs from undereducated Americans. Construction is a good example."

Claudia Smith, an immigrant rights advocate, said demographics at day labor sites vary day by day and place by place. Smith said she believes the reason day laborers attract protests reaches beyond the question of whether the workers are legal or illegal immigrants.

"It's never been about day laborers," Smith said. "And it certainly is not a question of whether they are documented or undocumented. It is about harassing a 'bunch of Mexicans.' If that is what you set out to do, it makes sense to target day laborers because they are the most exposed."


http://nctimes.com/articles/2007/07/26/ ... _25_07.txt