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Sunday, March 5, 2006 - 12:00 AM

Day laborers seek change in law

By Cara Solomon
Seattle Times reporter

One by one, the day laborers bent over their banner in the parking lot of the CASA Latina Workers Center in Seattle. They wrote words of encouragement and drew images of inspiration, from hearts to trees to the tools of the construction trade.

"I feel proud of people like you," one worker wrote. "We're with you."

More than a thousand miles away, 12 day laborers were beginning a cross-country run in California. In stops across America, they are hoping to promote immigration reform that is both "realistic and inclusive"; to highlight the way day laborers, some of them in this country illegally, contribute to the national economy; and to denounce the harassment and discrimination they say migrants are facing every day.

The Day Laborers Run for Peace and Dignity comes at a time of intense debate over undocumented workers. Some say they are costing the country too much in health and education expenses. Others say they fill a crucial niche in the low-wage sector of the nation's economy.

The U.S. House of Representatives already has passed an immigration-reform bill which would, among other things, make it a crime for churches and other groups to help illegal immigrants, and would require employers to verify immigration status. The U.S. Senate started its own debate on immigration last week.

"We have a lot to talk about," said Pedro Jimenez, 36, an organizer with CASA Latina, a nonprofit agency that educates low-income Latino workers. "The most difficult thing is that no one wants to listen to us."

The day laborers in Seattle did what they could on Saturday, gathering for a short rally and a symbolic run around the neighborhood.

They carried signs that read "U.S. Needs Our Labor, We Need Our Dignity." They made a video presentation, thanking the runners for their effort. And they collected $122.52 in a cookie tin to support the cross-country trip.

Faustino Morales Catalan, 56, said the runners will show Americans the honest, hard-working face of the day-laborer community.

"We don't want them to think we came to cause problems," Catalan said.

Day workers represent only a fraction of the 11 million undocumented workers in the country. But they are arguably the most visible, looking for work on city streets and in parking lots. And their numbers are growing.

In 1999, when CASA Latina began its day-worker program, there were only about 75 laborers looking for work on Seattle streets. Hilary Stern, executive director, said there are about four times as many now.

Many of them look for work through CASA Latina's program, set up with help from the city and the Belltown Business Association. A dispatch office on Western Avenue connects employers with laborers every morning. Employers can also put in a phone request for workers, and the group will deliver workers to sites.

Catalan himself has been handing out fliers, advertising that service.

"It stops us from having to be outside and make a bad impression," he said.

While Catalan said he feels his work is respected and appreciated, other day laborers have reported harassment. Pramila Jayapal, executive director of Hate Free Zone Washington, said some face pickets at their work centers. Others find their children getting bullied at school.

"In this climate, they've been targeted around the country," said Jayapal, who attended the rally.

Jimenez, the community organizer, said he felt that pain when he was an undocumented worker in Texas. He worked 16-hour days on a farm, he said — and was beaten during the day and locked up at night. The farm was miles from civilization. And he did not see any way to leave.

Jimenez is married now, with two young children and a salary that supports them, and another child back in Mexico. He spoke quietly to a stranger on Saturday, rarely making eye contact. But he gave a passionate speech to the day laborers at the rally.

And as he reflected on the run for Peace and Dignity, Jimenez could do nothing but smile.

Information from The Associated Press was included in this report. Cara Solomon: 206-464-2024 or csolomon@seattletimes.com