Thread: N.Y. county bill would disperse day-labor loiterers

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=18059

N.Y. county bill would disperse day-labor loiterers

By The Associated Press
01.28.07
GARDEN CITY, N.Y. — A pair of county lawmakers on eastern Long Island, where the illegal-immigration debate has raged for nearly a decade, have proposed an anti-loitering ordinance targeted at getting day laborers off street corners.

Opponents argued on Jan. 25 that it is actually an attempt to criminalize "standing while Latino."

Suffolk County Legislator Jack Eddington, a co-sponsor, said his aim was improving public safety and preventing accidents, but he conceded he also wanted the day laborers — largely suspected of being in the country illegally — to go elsewhere.

"This is not a black and white or Hispanic issue," he said of critics accusing him of racism. "These young men are being exploited. They have no safety precautions."

Opponents say the proposal is unconstitutional and will not survive court challenges.

"The right of people to seek work in public spaces is a crucial part of our civil society," said Christina Iturralde, an attorney with the New York-based Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. "The First Amendment protects that right. This attempt to criminalize it is an outrageous attack on that right. ... Making 'standing while Latino' a crime used to be a joke. Now we see that we really do have to worry."

So far, municipalities have not had success on local crackdowns.

A federal judge ruled last November that the village of Mamaroneck in Westchester County discriminated against day laborers when it closed a hiring site and stepped up police patrols on the streets where they looked for work.

In May, a federal judge prohibited the city of Redondo Beach, Calif., from arresting day laborers for violating a local ordinance against soliciting work in public.

The Rev. Alan Ramirez, a longtime advocate for Long Island day laborers, said the Suffolk proposal was motivated by bigotry. "They're going after the immigrants, they're going after the undocumented day laborers, the poorest, the weakest, the most vulnerable who are trying to get any job anywhere just to put food on the table. ... It's shameful."

The proposal, which will be formally submitted next month and could be voted on by the full county legislature in mid-March, would impose $500 fines on people who "unreasonably hinder or obstruct the free passage of pedestrians or motor vehicles" or those who stand on the roadways to solicit or sell a product or service to any occupant of a vehicle.

"This issue is becoming more dangerous by the day, and once the weather begins to warm up, we will be seeing more and more individuals on the roadway," Eddington said. "People are afraid to drive down this road and stop at the stores because there are so many men just mulling around."

Suffolk police officials did not immediately have statistics on the number of accidents or other problems associated with day laborers soliciting jobs on county roadways.

"I wonder, are they going to go to the local theaters and Starbucks, where the high school kids hang out after school, and arrest them and give them tickets for loitering?" Ramirez cracked.

Suffolk County has drawn day laborers from Mexico and Central America over the past decade. County Executive Steve Levy estimated that of the 1.5 million people living in the county, 40,000 are illegal immigrants. As they do elsewhere, dozens of men congregate on street corners in certain neighborhoods, waiting for contractors to hire them at day rates to perform landscaping, painting, construction and other manual labor.

"People are still not comfortable with the fact that today, immigration comes directly into the suburbs," Ramirez said. "Unlike the traditional ghettoes in the inner cities, today's sweatshops are the restaurants for the middle class, the lawns that need to be cut, the cars that need to be washed, the kids that need to be taken care of. These are the new sweatshops."

In 2000, two men lured a pair of Mexican day laborers to an abandoned warehouse with a promise of work and then beat them with tools in what prosecutors said was a racially motivated attack. In 2003, teenagers armed with fireworks set fire to a Mexican family's home in Farmingville; there were no injuries, but the house was destroyed.

The county has tried numerous proposals over the years to address the issue; a county-funded hiring hall was rejected several years ago by elected officials who said they did not want to sanction illegal immigration.

Last year, Suffolk passed a law requiring companies with government contracts to verify their employees are in the United States legally.

In 2000, two men lured a pair of Mexican day laborers to an abandoned warehouse with a promise of work and then beat them with tools in what prosecutors said was a racially motivated attack. In 2003, teenagers armed with fireworks set fire to a Mexican family's home in Farmingville; there were no injuries, but the house was destroyed.

Why is this even in this article? Poor editing.

Dixie

They should not consider it loitering but solicitation. That is exactly what it is. Just like prostitutes walk and stand around on the strret looking for customers and the day laborors do the same while looking for work.
Using this makes it less of a racial or ethnic issue.

It appears that judges believe that illegals have more rights than American citizens. Illegal day laborers are in gangs and they trash places that allow them to hang out. It is appalling to see them all standing around.

Any town, county, or state should have the right to pass laws that protect their citizens and bussnesses as they see fit and in any manner it takes to get the job done!!
I would be leary to patronize a business who has a large group of people hanging out or loitering near by, plain and simple it should not be aloud. Go to the nearest union hall and sign up for day work or try the unemployment office this is their job to help people find work. Of course unless you are illegal, then I recomment you just go home!!!

I don't know about other counties but I know that Miami Dade has by laws against loitering and more extensive state law about it as well. At the state level if the person or people are a threat to others, refuse to provide ID or take off when the police arrive.
In some areas in the county business owners complained about difficulty of customers accessing them, the littering and loitering. Once the police started showing up, they took off somewhere else. ICE has also caught many by following them to job sites.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD= ... =461&rfi=9

New County Bill Takes Aim At Day Laborers


By:George Wallace January 31, 2007



NO LOITERING ALLOWED—Suffolk County legislators Joe Caracappa (left) and Jack Eddington (right) recently introduced a measure that would hit those who loiter on certain county roads with a fine of up to $500. Officials say dangerous conditions created by

The issue of day laborers gathering on county roads in the Farmingville and Medford area has been a thorn in the side of Suffolk County Legislator Joseph Caracappa (R-Centereach) for some time. Now, in what is being billed as a bipartisan effort, he and fellow Legislator Jack Eddington (WF-Patchogue) have announced a new, countywide measure to "prohibit the obstruction of county roadways," taking aim squarely at gatherings of individuals soliciting employment on roadsides.
"This activity impedes the free flow of traffic, since motorists are fearful of hitting one of these individuals or the vehicles of those who stop to hire them," noted the pair in a joint statement issued last week.
"It is common knowledge that [the] gathering of these men are restricting access and creating unsafe traffic conditions," said Caracappa. "We're talking about primarily CR 83 and CR 16, which are essentially highways. County roads in general are usually very busy, people shouldn't be gathering on them."
"They jump out in the street for jobs. They'll run across the road, where a truck has stopped," said Eddington, who is chair of the Legislature's Public Safety and Public Information Committee. "I take this job of public safety very seriously. There have been accidents, trucks slow down, other cars have back-ended them. There was a death last week at six o'clock in the morning when a pedestrian was hit. The police have told me they can use ... [additional] tools to help move traffic and keep accidents from happening."
According to Eddington, the problem has reached a point where it exists even in the winter months, with as many as 60 people congregating outside and seeking work. "They're in heavy jackets and coats, all huddled up," he noted. And while the initial "shaping-up spot" has been off the road, in order to try to obtain work the laborers tend to walk down the road in order to catch the attention of prospective employers before others. "If you're driving by you get to one before another," he said. "That's the problem - in a hiring hall, you have to get online and you can't jockey for position."
The two acknowledged that they are taking their cue from legislative action targeting loitering by sex offenders near places where children congregate.
"It makes common sense to apply the same rationale to an issue that has created tremendous traffic and right-of-way access problems on a growing number of county roadways," Caracappa said. "Seeing that county government is willing to use this tool in other situations, it is my view, as well as the affected communities', to expeditiously apply this mechanism as it relates to loitering on county roadways."
As stated in the current version of the legislation, loitering occurs when individuals "remain in a place of restricted public access for no apparent purpose, or ... remain in a certain place for no lawful purpose." Signs stating "No Loitering" are slated to be posted at various areas where the county has determined loitering has become a serious problem. The law would prohibit a person, after first being warned by a law enforcement officer or where signs have been posted, from loitering, and impose a possible penalty of $500 for violations.
That statement attracted the attention of Donna Lieberman, head of the New York Civil Liberties Union. "Loitering ordinances are notorious rules for targeting unpopular groups or ideas," she said. "Suffolk County relies on immigrant workers and requires places where workers can congregate safely. The civil liberties union would look very carefully at any statute that is designed to target or restrict people because they are not citizens or looking for a job."
Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy said that his administration understands the concerns of the legislators, and will work with them to clarify the language in the bill.
"I'm very supportive of the concept of cracking down on this illegal underground economy," he said. "Day labor congregating has done damage to our single-family neighborhoods. This bill attempts to stop soliciting on the street. But it gets very tricky. Judges are quick to throw out a lot of bills of this type. You have to word it in such a way that it pertains to safety rather than someone's ability to assemble wherever they so desire, regardless of their status. We're going to work with them to fashion a bill that will withstand a constitutional challenge."
Caracappa says that he's pleased to have the support of Eddington in attempting to address the situation. "In the past it has been primarily a Republican thing," he said. "It's good to know it's on a bipartisan basis now. I have reason to believe that it's going to be successful."
The bill is scheduled to go before the public safety committee February 6.

I hope that it goes through. Why doesn't that woman open her eyes and see that the area only wants cheap labor and that is why it relies on illegals. Many Americans would love to have those jobs if they knew that they were there.