Thread: Immigrant labor dilemma hits California beach town

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Immigrant labor dilemma hits California beach town
Mon Jul 17, 2006 10:43 AM ET


By Mary Milliken

LAGUNA BEACH, California, July 17 (Reuters) - Laguna Beach is such a picture-perfect southern California beach town that the youth-oriented television station MTV chose it to stage a reality show with its blond, bronzed and privileged teen set.

But for some grown-up drama, there is Laguna Beach's day labor center for immigrants, where the deepening division over the tide of illegal workers in the United States is on display.

Opponents, mostly from other Orange County towns, call the center a magnet for illegal immigrants that encourages more to sneak over the border from Mexico. The anti-immigration Minuteman Project has organized protests at the center and challenged its legality.

Proponents, including the City Council, say it is an exemplary center that concentrates workers in one area on the outskirts of town and eliminates "swarming" where workers gather on residential street corners and surround trucks looking for day labor.

Even those who oppose illegal immigrants turn to the center for their business -- a sign that the road to resolving the illegal immigrant problem will be tortuous.

"I don't think these people should be here because they are illegal, they are breaking the law," Jeff Hillman said as he picked up a day laborer to dig a hole for $12 an hour, almost twice California's minimum wage.

The chosen laborer, Marcos Jimenez from Mexico, heard Hillman's opinion and jumped out of his truck with a slam of the door.

"If he doesn't want to give work to an illegal immigrant, why doesn't he go hire a white guy, an American citizen, someone who speaks English better?" Jimenez said in Spanish.

Hillman, who does construction in Laguna Beach, admitted to the contradiction, but said: "The competition is doing it and I need to stay competitive. They do it, so I do it once in a while too."

No other laborer at the center agreed to work for him that day.

'LAGUNA WELCOMES SLAVE TRADERS'

On a typical day, some 50 mostly Mexican workers will arrive around 6 a.m., take a number and wait for the pickup trucks to come by seeking labor to work on house construction or maintenance. Around half go home empty-handed.

They say they are treated well, for the most part, and they often get lunch and a bonus for a job well done. Skilled workers can earn up to $150 a day.

"It is part of a system that has been working in this country for 400 years, so you can't suddenly stop it," said David Peck, head of the nonprofit group, Cross-Cultural Council, that runs the center with city funding of $20,000 to $30,000 annually and private donations.

"And meanwhile there are 11 million people (nationwide) who are working in the jobs like the ones we are providing."

Peck is anxious to see Congress enact immigration legislation this year that will help define the immigrants' place in the United States. Of the two competing bills in Congress, he prays for the failure of the tougher one that would make him a criminal for aiding illegal workers.

But Minuteman member and Laguna Beach resident Eileen Garcia promises to be dogged in her efforts to close down the center, which she says uses scarce city funds needed by legal residents.

Garcia discovered the center was squatting on California state land, but the city council ruled last week that the center could continue to operate on the site for another year while it seeks to acquire the land from the state.

That prompted Garcia and Minuteman leaders to call a protest over the weekend across from the center. As they held up signs saying "Illegal aliens steal American jobs" and "Laguna welcomes slave traders," the workers and their supporters shouted "Racist, Nazis" in English and Spanish.

Meanwhile, Laguna Beach, a town favored by artists and the gay community for its progressive and tolerant nature, chafes with all the controversy.

"We are just trying to deal pragmatically with the problem a small community faces and this is a solution that works for us," said City Manager Ken Frank, who estimates 90 percent of residents back the day labor center.

Proponents, including the City Council, say it is an exemplary center that concentrates workers in one area on the outskirts of town and eliminates "swarming" where workers gather on residential street corners and surround trucks looking for day labor.

Sure, just turn your head in the opposite direction and ignore the problem. As long as the illegals are on the outskirts of town, they're fine. Don't you know how to stop the so-called "swarming?" Make it illegal you dummies! Oops, that's right, ILLEGAL doesn't mean anything in this country anymore unless the offender is an American citizen.