Thread: {Sob} Day Laborers Feel Foreclosure Fallout

Go to Google NewsDay Laborers Feel Foreclosure Fallout
By EVELYN NIEVES – 1 hour ago

GRATON, Calif. (AP) — The most desperate men park themselves on corners well before dawn, hoping for first dibs on jobs.

Most days, no one gets dibs — no one gets jobs.

Foreclosures are at record highs, home sales are at record lows and skittish consumers are cutting back on spending, all of which means contractors, construction crews and carpenters are no longer hiring. Neither are landscapers, cleaning services or homeowners.

Work, never a given for day laborers in the best of times, is almost nonexistent these days.

"These are the worst of times," would-be worker Ramon De la Cruz said recently in Spanish, noting that he had worked only one day in the previous six.

De la Cruz came here from Tabasco, Mexico three years ago to earn money to provide for his daughter, now 5. Only a year ago, he could still make $500 a week.

But Graton (pop. 1,815), sits in western Sonoma County, which has been hit hard by the housing downturn. Home loan defaults nearly tripled from 2006 to 2007, while housing prices dropped by 22 percent, according to DataQuick, a real estate data firm.

De la Cruz and his friends at the Graton Day Labor Center, where seven out of 70 workers might nab work on what passes for a good day, are not sure what they will do. Some have tried moving to other states only to find that workers everywhere are reeling under the fallout from the nation's housing woes.

Not since the weeks after Sept. 11, when the entire nation froze in shock, have day laborers been in a more precarious position, according to workers and their advocates.

Already among the poorest, most stigmatized workers in the country, the nation's approximately 100,000 day laborers, many here illegally, are finding themselves struggling as never before. Without the proper documents, their job options are limited to odd jobs for cash. Without those, many can barely feed themselves, let alone provide for their families, here or in their native countries.

And they're facing more competition for the few jobs that are left. As companies in the housing and home improvement industries have cut back on salaried employees, many of those workers have joined the day labor pool.

As a result, advocates say, more day laborers are becoming homeless, more are taking risks for jobs that endanger their health or don't pay and more are spending their days haunting street corners, where they are resented, even reviled.

"Our fear is that the economic downturn will create a perfect storm where day laborers will be scapegoated more than they already are," said Chris Newman, legal director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. "They're already deemed symbols of a broken immigration system. What will happen next?"

In the last year, cities and states across the country have been stepping up efforts to drive away day laborers.

In Phoenix, for instance, the county sheriff began rounding up undocumented day laborers even before a state law took effect Jan. 1 punishing employers who hire illegal immigrants. In Oklahoma, a state law that took effect in November makes it a felony to transport, hire or shelter any one who lacks the documents proving legal status in this country.

Citizens who oppose illegal immigration are taking their own action. In Houston, members of U.S. Border Watch, a civilian border patrol group, scribble down license plate numbers at popular day labor hiring spots and report would-be employers to federal authorities.

Chris Simcox, founder and president of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a Phoenix-based civil border patrol, said his group has been hearing from communities burdened by idle day laborers.

The laborers used to migrate for jobs, but with no work, they are staying in one spot and creating a nuisance, he said. "We hear complaints of public urination, littering and petty shoplifting," Simcox said, echoing common gripes in cities that have passed ordinances to push the day laborers off their corners.

Most immigrants here illegally will try to ride out the economic downturn, their advocates say.

"They know the situation is even more desperate where they come from," said Rene Saucedo, an organizer and former director of the San Francisco Day Labor Center.

Meanwhile, the lack of work, a hostile environment and fear of deportation is having a devastating effect, Saucedo said. Some, she said, are taking to drowning their sorrows in a bottle.

"Because they're barely surviving and not able to provide for their families," she said, "a lot of them suffer from depression and feelings of worthlessness."

None of this helps the workers or their advocates fend off those who believe they have no right to be in this country.

In towns like Graton, where day laborers have a place to wait for work, residents tend to be more sympathetic to their plight.

The Graton center, open since September, is considered a model day laborer center. It was organized after a year's worth of community meetings, and built by day laborers and community volunteers. Volunteers hold English classes five days a week and teach practical skills.

The other day, 50 men and six women showed up when the center opened at 7 a.m., most not expecting to find work, said Juan Cuandon of Mexico City, a 27-year-old day laborer who is also an organizer for the Graton Day Labor Center.

The workers, ranging in age from about 18 to 50, milled around folding tables, drinking coffee, bundled fat against a chilly morning. Some reminisced about the days when they made up to $700 a week.

Underneath their amiable chatter, the workers were all very worried, Cuandon said, speaking Spanish.

"Winter doesn't help," he said. "The hope is that jobs will bloom again in the spring."
Hosted by Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gnc6 ... QD8UQU6B82

So this article basically says that we should feel sorry for illegal alien day laborers who now can't find work b/c of our economic downturn and if they turn violent, do drugs or drown their sorrows in alchol, that too, is something we should sympathize with. Okay. I feel sorry for the Americans who are out of work, the working poor, and veterans returning home and having a hard time finding civilian employment. The illegal alien day laborers and their ethno-centric advocates need to realize that the best thing they can do at this point is GO HOME. Yes, illegal aliens are no longer going to be tacitly tolerated by an American public who never asked for them to come here.....greedy, employers imposed them on our communities and we no longer have patience to support all the accompanying illicit activitiy essential to making illegall aliens and their families survive, thrive and even complain in our midst.

I feel sorry for the american citizens who lost their job because they were replaced by these illegal aliens. I do not have any sympathy for the illegals, they have been living off our tax dollars for too long. The end is now here for them. Finally! Now is the time for them to make the journey home and change things in their own country.

symbols of a broken immigration system

What was broken about our immigration system is that the fence wasn't up!

Sob, sob -- PLEASE -- pass me a tissue! NOT.

They should never have been here in the first place.. I have n sympthay at all for them or their family if they left them behind shows more family values they have brought to the US and they are always saying we split up thier family.. Give me a GD break (gosh Darn)

Meanwhile, the lack of work, a hostile environment and fear of deportation is having a devastating effect, Saucedo said. Some, she said, are taking to drowning their sorrows in a bottle.

More proof that these idiots don't have two brain cells in their heads. Times are rough, so they WASTE their money on booze???

The day labor center that they refer to......Is it funded by Americans????????? Judical Watch needs to know about that if it is!!!!!!!!

The workers, ranging in age from about 18 to 50, milled around folding tables, drinking coffee, bundled fat against a chilly morning. Some reminisced about the days when they made up to $700 a week.

I don't know any Americans who would work for a lousy $700 per week Now tell me they aren't taking jobs from Americans.

Be alert ALIPACers and friends! What you are reading is a warning of a marked uptick in crime on the horizon. Do you remember the lawlessness and desperation after Katrina hit New Orleans? Are you aware that gangs have now moved in and own that city?

What do you think is going to happen when hundreds of thousands of young illegal alien men cannot find work to buy food or gas? Will they die of starvation trying to walk back to the southern border? Not likely!

Most immigrants here illegally will try to ride out the economic downturn, their advocates say.

Has anyone noticed the increase in news stories lately where the first thing the criminal says when apprehended is, "I am here illegally"? Why worry about getting caught stealing, mugging, or doing a B&E when the worst that likely will happen is you get a week in the local lockup with 3 squares and a free bus ride or flight back home (which you couldn't afford yourself)?

These people are not going to be made victims, you are. Heck, you are already! Watch for increased gang activity in your community as the birds of a feather begin to flock together. That will be a sure sign of what is to come. I imagine law enforcement is already noting an increase in misdemeanors and petty theft. Hopefully they are manning up for the next phase if the slide into recession continues. Oh wait! Fewer jobs means less money in the tax coffers which translates to cuts in public services! Don't guess 911 will be as effective as it should be either...

It's great that many states are getting proactive on the issue of illegal immigration and trying to move them out, but the last dozen or so states to get on board are going to be woefully regetful they took so long to deal with the problem. The transients will amass in the sanctuary states and as the economy worsens so will the crime.

You have been warned and you need to get a little bit Boy Scout and be prepared! It's time the state legislatures, county leadership, and city councils got an office full of up-close-and-personal visits on a daily basis because the clock is ticking on this nightmare in the making.

Maybe I'm just a pessimist, but I'd rather be a prepared pessimist than an extinct optimist anyday!