Thread: CARLSBAD: Undercover sting used to cite, deport Carlsbad day

CARLSBAD: Undercover sting used to cite, deport Carlsbad day laborers

Police say the workers create traffic hazards along El Camino Real

By EDWARD SIFUENTES
Posted: Sunday, November 1, 2009 7:55 pm
8 Comments

In a new twist, Carlsbad police have adopted an old tactic to bust day laborers: undercover sting operations similar to those used against street prostitutes.

The undercover stings and the anti-solicitation law that police have been using to cite the workers have opened a legal can of worms.

Other cities in the county and in the country that have tried to regulate day laborers have run into similar problems: How do you restrict day laborers without running afoul of their right to seek work?

Police say they are simply trying to address a safety problem. It's dangerous for drivers to stop on busy roads to pick up the workers, Carlsbad police Capt. Neil Gallucci said.

But migrant rights advocates say they see a more sinister purpose. It's simply the latest scare tactic used by the city to get rid of day laborers, whom some residents consider an eyesore.

"Are you kidding me?" attorney Victor Torres asked. "If the issue is safety, why aren't they enforcing the traffic laws that prohibit stopping in a bike lane or the red (zone) instead of using sting operations?"

Police said they do routinely also ticket drivers who stop illegally on the road.

In an Oct. 14 operation, police officers driving unmarked cars and wearing civilian clothes approached day laborers on El Camino Real and pretended to offer them work. The workers were driven a few blocks away where they were cited under the city's anti-hawking ordinance, police said.

Nine people were cited and nine others suspected of being in the country illegally were turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol, Gallucci said.

Safety first

Citing day laborers under the city's anti-hawking ordinance is not new.

Police started using the anti-solicitation ordinance ----- which was originally aimed at newspaper hawkers ---- to cite day laborers in 2007. At the time, police said the department had received numerous complaints from area homeowners.

The anti-hawking law prohibits people from distributing materials or soliciting "business or contributions from any person who is traveling in any type of vehicle" along roads with a 35 mph or higher speed limit and on some streets with lower speed limits.

Thus far this year, 22 citations have been issued for violations to the city's anti-hawking ordinance, Gallucci said. There were seven traffic collisions this year in the areas that were targeted in the Oct. 14 operation, he said, though there was no clear link between those accidents and the day laborers.

Police say they want day laborers to use the city-sponsored hiring center on El Camino Real, which is partly funded by Carlsbad and run by the nonprofit SER-Jobs of Progress. But day laborers say they prefer the streets because it's easier to get work there.

Also, the hiring hall doesn't take illegal immigrants because it receives government funding.

"They just don't want us to be here," said Moises Ventura, an immigrant from Oaxaca, Mexico, who has made a living as a day laborer for 10 years in Carlsbad. He said he is in the process of legalizing his status, but does not yet have a work permit.

Carlsbad is not the only North County city trying to get rid of the informal hiring sites, which have long existed on streets all across the region and the country. Vista passed a law in 2006 requiring people who want to hire day laborers off the street to register with the city.

Escondido also has discussed an ordinance to regulate day laborers, but those plans have largely faded.

'Almost like prostitution'

Until recently, Carlsbad police simply cited day laborers under its anti-hawking ordinance. But the courts said that police could not ticket someone just because they were standing on the street.

In one case, a state appellate court ruled last month that there was not enough evidence to convict Regulo Luna Colores, a day laborer, under the Carlsbad law.

"Although (Luna) admitted that he was 'looking for work' and thus impliedly intending to violate the Carlsbad Municipal Code, the evidence was insufficient to establish an attempt on his part to solicit business or otherwise violate the ordinance," according to the court's ruling.

Dorothy Johnson, an attorney with the nonprofit legal aid group California Rural Legal Assistance in Oceanside, said the court made the right call. She said not only is the ordinance wrong, but police are misusing it.

"If someone is simply standing on the sidewalk, not engaged in any kind of conduct that would be consistent with soliciting, like whistling or waving or yelling, they are still getting ticketed," Johnson said.

Because of the ruling, police changed their tactics, Gallucci said. Officers have to observe that there is an agreement between the day laborer and the employer, he said.

"There has to be an agreement," Gallucci said. "It's almost like a prostitution citation."

Several day laborers said that police are simply looking for excuses to intimidate and harass them.

"They are tricking us, and that's not right," said Gudelio Mendoza, one of the people cited Oct. 14 by police.

'It's outrageous'

Mendoza said he and other men were picked up by police and taken a few blocks away, where a Border Patrol vehicle was parked. He was asked for an ID, and because he is a legal resident, he was able to show one and was simply cited. Other people who could not show an ID were turned over to the Border Patrol, he said.

Immigrant rights advocates have criticized such close cooperation between local law enforcement and immigration authorities. They say it raises a suspicion among immigrants that if they call police to report a crime, they could be handed over to immigration agents for deportation.

Gallucci said they use immigration agents to verify people's identification and to help translate between mostly Spanish-speaking day laborers and English-speaking police officers. He said people who call police to report a crime have nothing to fear.

Torres, a Rancho Penasquitos attorney who has defended several of the day laborers, including Luna and Mendoza, said the police's explanations don't make sense. Torres is also the spokesman for El Grupo, an umbrella organization of various local civil rights groups.

"It's outrageous," Torres said. "If someone cannot be identified, then they can either do a check by fingerprints at the station or by laptop in the field. They don't need to have live Border Patrol intimidating day laborers and putting more fear and distrust into the hearts and minds of the Latino community."

www.nctimes.com

Other cities in the county and in the country that have tried to regulate day laborers have run into similar problems: How do you restrict day laborers without running afoul of their right to seek work?

Their right to seek work?!?!?! What right? Illegal aliens are forbidden to work in the US, it's a crime.

For legal residents, we have job centers, they should be using those.

I don't care what methods police use to find and detain illegal aliens, as long as they keep it up and reduce illegal immigration, the better.

He said he is in the process of legalizing his status, but does not yet have a work permit.

HOW do you come here illegally and get in the process of legalizing your status? Just what is wrong with this picture, we are hearing it more and more everyday.

We all know what is happening they are making more and more of these law breakers legal by stealth! I guess if you can not pass amnesty just give them defacto amnesty and to hell with what the majority of Americans want for their country, the rule of law....enforce our laws, and "DEPORT" for breaking our laws!