Thread: No D.C. day-labor site-update now open

The Washington Times
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No D.C. day-labor site
Published April 3, 2007

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If the District ends up re-enacting the day-labor controversies of nearby cities and towns, no one can claim to be surprised at the inevitable and justifiable pushback.
Herndon, Silver Spring, Wheaton and Gaithersburg are four nearby places where activists and politicians advocated taxpayer-funded day-labor centers despite significant public opposition. People object for rather simple reasons. They don't want loitering, urinating or littering, and they certainly don't their neighborhoods turned into loutish places. Naturally, they especially dislike the idea of subsidizing all this with their own tax dollars -- for the benefit of scofflaws who hire day laborers, many of whom are illegal aliens. Local liberal ideologues always seem surprised that taxpayers actually care what happens to their property and money. They shouldn't be.
The District's news is that D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr. wants a multicultural training center in Northeast near the Rhode Island Avenue Home Depot. This center would fulfill the same functions of day-labor centers in the suburbs. As in Herndon and elsewhere, laborers already congregate in parking lots and near D.C. stores. Mr. Thomas' aim is to formalize things in a "public-private" facility sustained in part by public coffers. And that, predictably, will mean controversy, over both the public-nuisance issue and over the use of tax dollars for the illegal hiring of illegal aliens.
The town of Herndon was sued over its day-labor center, which is proceeding in spite of the lawsuit. Last year, half the town council was thrown out of office in a vote widely perceived as a referendum on the mishandling of the day-laborer issue. Strong opposition here was viewed with distaste by disappointed liberal politicians around the country.
In Gaithersburg, proponents of the day-labor center failed 30 times in 2006, only to be saved in January by Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett and a site just outside city limits. There, NIMBYism couldn't stop things. The center, run by the illegal-alien advocate group CASA of Maryland Inc., is slated to open this month. Now, the watchful eyes of area residents will gauge whether CASA and friends can keep laborers off people's property and out of the public eye. That's what they are now reduced to, their more principled arguments about the rights of taxpayers or the duty not to abet scofflaws having fallen on deaf ears among local politicians.
The District treads here at its peril. If it moves forward, city politicians should expect lawsuits and challenges from D.C. taxpayers and law-abiding citizens -- not to mention jeers for helping companies and people break the law.




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Day-Labor Site Opens in Gaithersburg
Latino Advocates Inaugurate Official Site After Months of Immigration Protests

By Steve Hendrix
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 17, 2007; B04



A stormy three-year effort to establish a sanctioned gathering place for job-seeking day laborers in Gaithersburg came to an apparently tranquil end yesterday in a double-wide trailer just outside city limits.

After months of protests, counter-marches and threats of arrests, a few dozen Latino men and women quietly inaugurated the new Montgomery County-sponsored day-labor center with coffee, croissants and a notable lack of dissent.

Organizers hope the location, which is near a bus stop, will replace shopping centers and parking lots as a place to gather each morning. Yesterday, most of those present had been brought from a nearby 7-Eleven where, previously, the day's high winds would have been something to endure as they waited for contractors to cruise through looking for workers.

Instead, after some welcoming remarks from Montgomery officials and CASA de Maryland Inc., the immigrant advocacy group hired to run the center at 16642 Crabbs Branch Rd., the laborers waited in the bright, warm trailer complete with DVD player and the promise of English lessons and legal assistance.

The opening capped a prolonged, unsuccessful effort by Gaithersburg to find a location for the center. This year, County Executive Isiah Leggett bypassed the city government and provided a chunk of county land off of Shady Grove Road as a site.

"This is a good temporary solution," Leggett said in a phone interview. "I hope and believe that we will continue to operate in a matter that both respects the dignity of those seeking work and addresses the concerns of the residents."

A small force of county police was on hand in case of protests, but none materialized. Stephen Schreiman, head of the Maryland Minuteman, an anti-illegal-immigration group that has opposed the center, said by phone that protests were possible in the future. But for now, he said, his group will concentrate on possible legal and political challenges.

"They're spending more and more of our money on illegal immigrants in the county," Schreiman said. "I think it's going to take an election in three years. The residents of Montgomery County are going to be fed up with Ike Leggett. His actions have been irresponsible."

The job clearinghouse officially began shortly after 7 a.m., when a CASA staffer, in response to a phone call, called out in Spanish for workers with plumbing experience. Three men raised their hands and, after some brief paperwork, went out to meet their employer for the day.

"It's much better here than outside," said Jose Mendez, a 21-year-old from El Salvador who has been working illegally as a painter in the country for more than four years. "This is a comfortable place. The 7-Eleven can be dangerous."

The calm scene contrasted markedly with tumultuous scenes at convenience store and church parking lots in recent years, where the daily gathering of dozens of laborers led to complaints about intimidation and public urination from property owners and neighbors. The Maryland Minuteman group began monitoring the gathering sites. And immigrant advocates staged a prayer vigil and march on city hall after town police threatened to arrest laborers for trespassing.

In 2005, the county council approved funds for Gaithersburg to set up a day-labor center similar to county-funded facilities in Silver Spring and Wheaton. But city officials say they were turned down by more than 30 landlords in their search for a site, and county officials worried that political pressures would stymie the effort. It was during this period that voters in Herndon ousted the mayor and town council members who had supported a day-labor center.

Gaithersburg City Manager David Humpton said the county site, which is between a school bus depot and the central kitchen of Montgomery schools, is a promising one.

"The city has always said that we wanted to find a heavy commercial area where the contractors would find it convenient and the workers would find it convenient," Humpton said. "We think this is a good location and support it 100 percent."

The city council has passed an anti-solicitation ordinance that would make it illegal for anyone to seek work or hire workers on most streets, sidewalks and parking areas within city limits. That law was written to go into effect upon the opening of a day-labor center in or near the city, but according to Humpton, the state's attorney for Montgomery County recently advised the city the law would not withstand constitutional challenge.

Humpton said he would be seeking guidance from town officials at last night's council meeting.


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Yesterday, most of those present had been brought from a nearby 7-Eleven where, previously, the day's high winds would have been something to endure as they waited for contractors to cruise through looking for workers.

Wonder who transported these illegal aliens? Taxpayers or CASA?

This year, County Executive Isiah Leggett bypassed the city government and provided a chunk of county land off of Shady Grove Road as a site.

Did the county's LEGAL residents have any input before providing a "chunk of county land" for the use of illegal aliens?

The job clearinghouse officially began shortly after 7 a.m., when a CASA staffer, in response to a phone call, called out in Spanish for workers with plumbing experience. Three men raised their hands and, after some brief paperwork, went out to meet their employer for the day.

Isn't this legally aiding, abetting & harboring illegal aliens?

"It's much better here than outside," said Jose Mendez, a 21-year-old from El Salvador who has been working illegally as a painter in the country for more than four years. "This is a comfortable place. The 7-Eleven can be dangerous."

Why don't you demand recliners, snacks and wake-up calls. I'm sure taxpayers would be happy to provide these as well if they haven't already.