Thread: Herndon debates whether to aid day laborers

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Herndon debates whether to aid day laborers
By Samson Habte
Examiner Staff Writer
Published: Sunday, July 10, 2005 11:49 PM EDT


Unemployed laborers wait for offers of day work at the intersection of Shirlington Road and 27th Street in Arlington on May 17. Brig Cabe/Examiner

For the past several years, day laborers have gathered near a 7-Eleven store on Elden Street in Herndon, swarming cars that pull into the store's parking lot, hoping to pick up temporary work from contractors.

Some locals complain that many workers are illegal immigrants, and that their presence disrupts traffic and raises public safety concerns.

The Herndon Planning Commission will hear public testimony tonight on a proposal by Reston Interfaith, a nonprofit coalition of religious groups who want to open a center where laborers and employers can meet. A Fairfax County grant would fund the proposal, and proponents are hoping to build the site on town-owned land.

But the plan has attracted vigorous opposition that threatens to scuttle it. At a meeting organized by opponents last week, residents angrily denounced the proposal, saying a town-sanctioned site would draw more undocumented immigrants.

"It will be a magnet for illegal aliens," said Herndon resident Erin Anderson, who said laborers would stop congregating if police arrested workers who are here illegally.

But that is not an option, said Herndon Councilman Dennis Husch.

"[Police] are not authorized to enforce federal immigration laws," Husch said. Immigration status should not factor into the discussion, he added, describing the debate strictly as a "land-use issue."

Regionwide debate

The laborer controversy has not been limited to Herndon. Similar debates have raged in localities throughout Northern Virginia, where a robust economy has produced job opportunities - particularly in the construction industry - that immigrants have flocked to fill. In a 2004 survey commissioned by Fairfax County, more than 80 percent of laborers reported being hired for construction jobs, and industry leaders have argued that immigrant labor is indispensable.

In 2003, Arlington County spent $72,000 to build an open-air pavilion for day laborers in Shirlington - the only regulated site in Northern Virginia.

'Community support'

Similar efforts have stalled in Fairfax, where advocates have run into strong opposition that has made it difficult to find suitable locations.

"There's got to be community support" for settling on a location, said Fairfax Supervisor Penny Gross, D-Mason, whose district includes a section of Annandale where laborers gather daily.

Although no timetable has been set, Gross said county officials "certainly don't want to be in a position four years from now where we are still dealing with finding a suitable site."

That sentiment is shared by Court Thelan, an eye doctor who said his practice has lost customers because swarms of day laborers mill around outside his office on Little River Turnpike in Annandale.

"We understand that they're filling a need," said Thelan, "but the unfortunate part is their desire to find work is hurting businesses they stand in front of."

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Found a new story on the topic.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 00048.html

Herndon Day Labor Plan Opposed
Backers Say Community Should Reach Out to Immigrants

By David Cho
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 12, 2005; B05



Hundreds of emotional and angry residents flooded Herndon's municipal center last night over what is growing into a divisive and volatile issue for the region: using tax dollars to establish official day laborer sites.

More than 250 people showed up for a planning commission hearing on the matter, filling the main chambers and spilling into an overflow room where the proceedings could be watched on a television. At one point, more than 50 people crowded the hallways, trying to catch a glimpse of what was happening inside the auditorium.

The planning commission took no action and scheduled another hearing for Aug. 1.

Several people marched outside, waving placards that read, "No Day Laborer Site" and "No $$ for Hiring Hall." Others spoke heatedly against establishing an official day laborer site, saying it would draw more illegal immigrants to the area.

But proponents of the plan accused the protesters of racism and contended that the town needs to reach out to and work with the more than 100 immigrants who gather informally outside a 7-Eleven in downtown Herndon every day.

Dubbed Project Hope and Harmony, the proposal was brought forth by a broad coalition of faith-based groups, nonprofit organizations and social workers. It calls for creating a site in a residential area near the Loudoun County border. Three social workers would manage the day laborers and offer such services as English classes. Fairfax County has offered to use public money to pay the costs of running the site.

Sarah Ince, a director of the nonprofit group Reston Interfaith, a principal partner of Hope and Harmony, said the project requested about $170,000 from Fairfax. Other funds and supplies would be provided by nonprofit groups, churches and the All Dulles Area Muslim Society center, a nearby mosque.

"The day laborers have been here for more than 10 years, and that's a natural fact of the economy here. They built our residential and commercial community," said Kerrie Wilson, executive director of Reston Interfaith. "What we are trying to bring is some control to the site, to address many of the concerns that Herndon residents have about the site."

But David Kirby, a Herndon resident, said he didn't want public money to be spent on a site that draws some illegal immigrants. "At the 7-Eleven, it's an eyesore," he said. "[The workers] are drinking, they are urinating in public, they [are] cat-calling to the women. Not too many people go to that 7-Eleven anymore . . . and now they want to put that in a residential part of town."

Many of the proposal's opponents pinned on their shirts white paper stars proclaiming, "No day laborer site." They were made by Kathy Brooke, 45, of Sterling, who said she gave out 100 before she ran out.

Several people said in public comments that they worried that the day workers would lower property values and would bring gang violence and diseases. Others accused those protesters of being racist.

About eight day workers attended the hearing. One of them, Jose Luis Arce, 46, an immigrant from Peru who lives in Herndon, signed up to speak but left before his turn. He said in an interview that the workers face many hardships and often are exploited by their employers.

During the last municipal elections, half of the voters cast ballots for Mayor Michael O'Reilly, who supported establishing a day laborer site. But an almost equal number voted for his opponents, both of whom opposed such an idea.

www.washingtonpost.com

Herndon Confronts Immigrant Tensions
Proposal to Fund Day Laborer Center A Test in Integration

By David Cho
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, July 18, 2005; A01



The throng of Latino immigrants gathering outside the 7-Eleven in downtown Herndon looking for a day's work has been the most noticeable part of this commercial district of shopping plazas and fast-food restaurants for almost a decade.

For as long as they've been there, the newcomers, many of them in the country illegally, have been at the center of ethnic and racial tensions simmering among Herndon's rapidly dwindling white majority and even among legal immigrants living in town.

But now, as town officials consider a plan to spend about $170,000 in taxpayer money to move the workers to a designated site in a residential neighborhood and staff it with social workers and English tutors, those emotions are exploding into the open.

"We are being really crushed by these Central American people," said Ruth Tatlock, 77, who has lived in Herndon for 31 years and supports the project. "It's a big influx in a small town. . . . But we have to be able to coexist somehow and do it on a decent level."

The town appears evenly split between those who are galled by the idea that their taxes would go to services for people in the country illegally and those relieved that the town is finally dealing with the issue.

Hundreds of residents flooded Town Hall for a public hearing on the proposal last week. Those in opposition wore white paper stars bearing anti-day laborer slogans on their shirts and picketed outside. Even more residents are expected to be in attendance when the Planning Commission votes on the issue Aug. 1.

As the Washington region absorbs thousands of new immigrants each week, Herndon has become a focal point in the suburbs' struggle to integrate those both legal and illegal. Arguments over federal immigration policy are played out every day there and are beginning to spill into the larger counties nearby.

Once a farming hamlet, Herndon is home to the highest proportion of foreign-born residents of any jurisdiction in the Washington region: 38 percent of its 22,000 people. In the 1990s, the number of Latino immigrants nearly quadrupled; they now constitute 26 percent of the population. By contrast, the proportion of whites fell from 78 percent to 58 percent.

Every facet of life, from schools to neighborhoods to the town's downtown, has been affected by the influx, which was spurred by an abundance of affordable housing and good construction jobs (many of the immigrants helped raise the glass towers of the Dulles technology corridor nearby).

Mayor Michael L. O'Reilly is trying to steer the community toward some accommodation. Slightly less than half of voters cast ballots for him in last year's municipal elections; his opponents had expressed dismay at the presence of the day laborers.

"There's probably no other issue facing local governments that is more complicated than day laborer" sites, O'Reilly said. "There are constitutional issues, the right of assembly. There are national issues. There are local issues. It is very complex, and it brings out a lot of emotion in people."

Other jurisdictions are watching the developments in Herndon closely. Many say creating worker sites with public funds represents the best hope to resolve the touchy issue. But it also has become a flashpoint for the residents who look askance at the wholesale changes immigration has brought to their neighborhoods and downtowns.

Philip Jones, 44, of Herndon, a single father of two teenagers, views the day laborers as an additional threat to Herndon's once close-knit community. Every day, he said, he drives by the 7-Eleven and sees them catcall at women, drink and behave in unruly ways. His children are afraid to go into the store.

Now he fears that could be the scene near his home. The proposed day laborer site is in Jones's suburban neighborhood of split-level homes where Herndon borders Loudoun County. His neighbors dislike the idea so much, he says, that some may sell and leave town.

Complicating the issue for Jones was when people accused him of racism at last week's hearing.

"To be called a racist is unnerving. To have someone tell me to 'shove it' in a public forum, that's unnerving," Jones said after he finished speaking. "These day laborers are scary. They are unkempt. They swarm on top of you. They grab your car competing for work. . . . Why is it bigotry if I don't want that in my neighborhood?"

While he was speaking, eight day laborers walked into the municipal center. Jose Luis Arce, 46, who recently emigrated from Peru illegally, signed up to speak about the abuse he and his colleagues face at their jobs. After warily eyeing the placards and people wearing the white stars, he decided not to wait for his turn. But in an interview, he expressed concern over how immigrants are treated.

"We are qualified hands," he said in Spanish. "It's not important whether we have [immigration] papers or not. It's what we do and who we are as people."

The two men, it turns out, live a few miles from each other -- Jones in a home worth almost $500,000, Arce in a crowded rental that he shares with other immigrants. They shop in the same downtown grocery, Bestway, which offers a variety of ethnic products. But where Arce finds comfort food, Jones shops quickly and leaves. He said his daughter once was harassed there by a group of laborers.

Some longtime residents supporting the day laborers are angry that immigrants don't feel more welcome in Herndon. They say the town should take pride in the thriving ethnic businesses downtown and the town's new diversity.

"I'm ashamed to see what's happening here," said Abby Reyes, 31, who grew up in Herndon. "It's shocking to see what xenophobia and insecurity can bring."

Underneath the debate is a frustration at a national immigration policy that vacillates between neglect and harsh enforcement.

"The day laborers are the most public face of immigration in the region, and a lot of frustration at the U.S.'s broken immigration policy is being targeted at them," said Timothy Freilich, a lawyer at the Virginia Justice Center, which provides legal services for day workers.

Saying that problems related to illegal immigration are a federal responsibility, most Herndon officials have tried to prevent the topic from coming up in town debates. The mayor, for one, believes creating an official day laborer site should be decided on land-use issues alone.

The Herndon proposal, "Project Hope and Harmony," was created by a broad coalition of faith-based groups, nonprofit organizations and social workers. It calls for three people to manage the day workers at a soon-to-be vacant building that is now a temporary police headquarters. English classes and other social services could be offered as well. Fairfax County, which has allocated $400,000 to help staff day worker sites, has offered to help Herndon pay for its site.

Although organizers say the site is isolated from surrounding neighborhoods, residents worry that the workers will trample their yards and increase crime. Those residents believe that officials are siding with the day laborers rather than protecting voters who pay property taxes.

O'Reilly hopes that the discussion will remain civil. But that has been a challenge.

"I understand there are a lot of people upset about illegal immigration, and I understand there are a lot of people upset about the influx of Hispanics into the town of Herndon, whether illegal or legal," O'Reilly said. "And I know this issue gives people a platform to scream and shout and show a lot of hatred, and that's unfortunate."