http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longi ... 5508.story

Mexico backing day laborers
The nation’s consul general blasts Levy for Farmingville evictions, saying they have increased tensions

BART JONES
STAFF WRITER

July 6, 2005

The Mexican government entered the fray in Farmingville on Tuesday, with that nation's consul general in Manhattan denouncing the evictions of dozens of day laborers in the community, including some who were left homeless.

Arturo Sarukhan, who as consul general oversees the Mexican population in the tristate area and is one of the highest-ranking Mexican officials in the United States, criticized Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy for actions that he said had increased tensions in the community.

Sarukhan said he was not questioning Levy's right to enforce safety and fire codes. But he said that evictions that left some Latino workers homeless in Farmingville weren't the solution.

"The recipe is not vilifying the Mexicans," said Sarukhan, who sent two aides to Farmingville on Tuesday on a fact-finding mission and plans to visit himself later this week. "The bad guys are not the day laborers. They are the unscrupulous landlords."

He added in an interview that "the tensions are there and I don't think Mr. Levy's actions are helping to bring the tensions down. ... He is simply making these issues fester and blow up."

Levy said through a spokesman that he was not stoking tensions in a community that has already seen violence against Mexican immigrants, and that he was taking on a hot-button issue most politicians have ignored.

"This is the first elected official in memory who has had the temerity to tackle what has long been a taboo issue," spokesman Ed Dumas said. He noted that the consul's criticism of the housing crackdown was misplaced.

"I think the criticism would be more aptly directed at the slumlords who are victimizing the Latino community by cramming them into these inhumane and dungeon-like conditions," he said.

He added that Suffolk County would provide social services for any displaced tenants who are eligible, and those who are not -- namely undocumented immigrants -- would be directed to nonprofit agencies.

He also said the county plans to work with Brookhaven Town to "minimize the number of displaced persons" from any future actions.

Brookhaven Town officials say the list of overcrowded houses they are targeting in Farmingville has grown to 156, while another 300 houses elsewhere in Brookhaven also are under investigation.

Sarukhan said he feared the crackdown could produce a "domino effect and have a massive social dislocation impact" involving hundreds of men who could end up homeless, even during the winter.

The day laborers "have rights regardless of whether they are documented or undocumented," he said. "We will do everything we can to make sure those rights are protected."

"I wonder if those fire and safety codes are equally applied throughout the county" in places including Fire Island and the Hamptons, he added. Officials say they plan to enforce the codes uniformly.

According to Brookhaven officials, as many as 104 men lived in three houses that have been shut down in Farmingville in the past two weeks, either by direct order of the town enforcing fire and safety codes or by landlords who received temporary restraining orders to evict the tenants.

Immigrant advocates say the houses contained far fewer men than that, and while some of the displaced tenants have found temporary housing, others are now living in woods. Levy said on Friday the county would send bilingual social services workers along with police to look for day laborers in the woods and give them information about agencies that can provide shelter.

With the debate growing regarding the housing crackdown, immigrant advocacy organizations, church leaders, politicians and others said they plan to hold a news conference and protest today outside Suffolk County offices in Hauppauge.