Thread: L.A. councilman to try again to require shelters

L.A. councilman to try again to require shelters for gathering laborers
By Dan Laidman
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
April 4, 2007

LOS ANGELES – Nearly three years ago a city official here challenged corporate America on the controversial issue of day labor by proposing a first-of-its-kind law requiring large home-improvement stores to create shelters for the workers who gather nearby.



JOHN GASTALDO / Union-Tribune
Day laborers gathered to seek work outside of a Home Depot store on Sports Arena Boulevard in San Diego.
Businesses, feeling like scapegoats for a complex problem and eager to avoid the potential costs, persuaded the House of Representatives to ban such local requirements as part of last year's immigration bill, but the matter didn't make it through the Senate.

Now Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard Parks is trying again, and the outcome could have major implications, not only for Los Angeles but cities such as San Diego that have a large migrant population and numerous gathering spots for day workers.

“We honestly believe it is a land-use issue; it is not an immigration issue,” Parks said. “We would not allow any other business to create an eyesore in the community (that) they would not be responsible for.”

Constituents had complained to Parks, a former Los Angeles police chief, about problems such as noise, trash, crowded walkways and public urination associated with groups of laborers outside one store. Those typically would be problems for local authorities, but some observers say day labor is unique because so many of the workers are undocumented immigrants.

“No business should be compelled to facilitate the hiring of illegal aliens by establishing labor sites on or near their premises,” Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said during the House debate last year about the amendment barring such local mandates.



Advertisement The Los Angeles ordinance would require home-improvement stores bigger than 100,000 square feet to include a “suitable shelter or area . . . for persons seeking employment with customers,” with the specifics and cost to be decided case by case. The city maintains several day-labor centers that each cost Los Angeles taxpayers about $180,000 per year.
At one center near downtown, about 100 workers gather daily in a simple, open-air enclosure at the end of a sprawling Home Depot parking lot. Workers show up at 6 a.m. to add their names to a list, and jobs are doled out on a first-come, first-served basis.

Jerónimo Salguero, who works for a nonprofit group that operates the center under a city contract, said some workers think they will be more competitive outside on the street. He contends that they're more vulnerable when soliciting jobs on their own.

Amilcar Pool, a worker who frequents the shelter, said both laborers and employers benefit from the center's stability.

“Outside, it's rough,” he said. “Here, we follow the rules.”

Between jobs, the workers can take on-site English classes, learn computer skills and get access to health care and social services.

Other Southern California cities have taken different approaches to the issue.

Vista in San Diego County has drawn controversy and a lawsuit by requiring those who hire day laborers to register with the city, while the Orange County town of Lake Forest recently tried to prohibit soliciting work on the sidewalk.

In places such as Ramona, Encinitas, Carlsbad and Oceanside, day laborer gathering sites have become targets for protests by anti-illegal immigration groups. Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, cited such demonstrations to explain his amendment to the 2006 House immigration bill that would have prohibited local governments from requiring businesses to establish labor sites.

“If day laborers are congregating in an area that is well known, they could be targeted by groups opposed to illegal immigration,” said Fred Piccolo, a spokesman for Cannon, adding that “providing shelter and facilities for illegal immigrants could also get the business in trouble for harboring an illegal.”

Cannon offered his amendment in the wake of both the proposed Los Angeles ordinance and another high-profile case in Burbank, a city that required one Home Depot to build a shelter for laborers. Cannon, who has received significant campaign contributions from Home Depot and its affiliates, acted after the issue was brought to his attention by the “general business community,” Piccolo said.

Jose Chicas, who travels from his home in Tijuana to the Home Depot on Sports Arena Boulevard in San Diego to look for work, said shelters would help, especially in the warm summer months.

“That would be good,” he said. Having restroom facilities with the shelter would also be a nice addition, Chicas, 53, added, although they would not be a necessity as many of the day laborers can use the restrooms in the store.

“They don't bother us,” he said of the store employees. “But they don't want us to stay here.”

Last year's proposed ordinance in Los Angeles stalled as officials waited on Washington. Because the immigration changes did not pass the Senate, Parks has decided to push ahead with his original proposal, bringing it back to a council committee this month. If it's adopted, it could serve as a model for other cities around the region.

Still, Parks' effort could be thwarted again by Washington. If Congress addresses immigration reform this year, Cannon intends to reintroduce his amendment banning requirements for local centers.

Home Depot, meanwhile, has had little to say publicly about either the Los Angeles proposal or federal laws. “We are aware of the legislation and we are watching it closely,” company spokeswoman Kathryn Gallagher said.

John Trasvina, president of the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund, which fought Cannon's amendment, said he expects comprehensive immigration changes to pass this year because the new Democratic majority largely agrees with President Bush on the issue.

However, while a guest-worker program or a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants might change the nature of the day labor issue, such efforts would not eliminate the throngs of men surrounding home-improvement centers, he said.

“People would still be working, but they'd be able to work legally,” he said. “This is really dictated by the people who are hiring the workers, it's not dictated by the workers.”



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http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/stat ... labor.html

Filthy Home Depot! I'd like to see them go out of business over this day laborer stuff. Anybody who shops there is contributing to this un-American underground activity.

These illegals don't need shelters, they need busses to give them a ride back to Mexico.

ShockedinCalifornia wrote:

Filthy Home Depot! I'd like to see them go out of business over this day laborer stuff. Anybody who shops there is contributing to this un-American underground activity.

It's my understanding that there are a lot of Home Depot stores that don't want laborers (criminal aliens) loitering around the store. Does anyone know of any Home Depot store that actually want the criminal aliens loitering on store property? Just curious.

Originally Posted by MW

ShockedinCalifornia wrote:

Filthy Home Depot! I'd like to see them go out of business over this day laborer stuff. Anybody who shops there is contributing to this un-American underground activity.

It's my understanding that there are a lot of Home Depot stores that don't want laborers (criminal aliens) loitering around the store. Does anyone know of any Home Depot store that actually want the criminal aliens loitering on store property? Just curious.

There are 2 local Home Depot stores near me store 1, no Bums hanging out in or near the store
Store 2, on sunny days they hang out in the parking lot and when the weather is poor they hang in the store, I have seen them sweeping the asles in the store on rain days. A guy with a depot type dayglow vest rounds up shoping carts he has no Home Depot ID nametag and speaks no english, walks , mentioned this to a cashier and she just smiled.

“No business should be compelled to facilitate the hiring of illegal aliens by establishing labor sites on or near their premises,” Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said during the House debate last year about the amendment barring such local mandates.

I do have to agree here. Why should a business have to make provisions for these criminals. When I or anyone I know was looking for work we didn't hang on a street corners, we went to agencies or employment offices. This is promoting illegal immirgration!