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Tone polite at Vista day-labor law workshop

By Angela Lau
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
January 7, 2007

VISTA – The two sheriff's deputies assigned to keep the peace at a workshop yesterday on the city's day-labor law didn't have much to do other than stand at the doorway of a Vista Library conference room.

Fifteen people showed up for the workshop, and many of them were friends of the organizer, The Coalition for Justice, Peace and Dignity, which opposes the ordinance.

The legislation, approved by the City Council in June, requires employers of day laborers to register with the city.

“People are still picking them up without registering,” said Tina Jillings, a coalition co-founder. “So many people have complained they were fined or cited for hiring day laborers.”

Yesterday's workshop was a polite question-and-answer session with a couple of people opposing illegal immigration.

It didn't match the hubbub that surrounded the law's passage, when crowds packed the council chambers and protesters rallied outside.

Dave Wilson, the city's code enforcement manager, was at the workshop to explain the law. He said that residents who go to day-laborer gathering sites to hire workers have to register with the city at no charge. They also must:

Display the registration in the vehicle used to hire and transport the laborers.

Return the workers to where they were picked up when they have completed their jobs.

Provide the workers with the employer's name, address, telephone number and the pay rate.

Code enforcement officers are posted daily at the most popular day-laborer hiring area, the Vons shopping center at Escondido and South Santa Fe avenues, Wilson said.

The first violation carries a $100 fine. The second costs $200, and the third and subsequent infractions cost $500 each.

The city has issued 46 citations, all of which were given to first-time offenders.

More than 75 employers have registered, but employment opportunities for day laborers have greatly diminished since the law took effect.

Vista resident Fredi Avalos asked if an employer's personal information would be released to anti-immigrant groups such as the Minutemen. Wilson said the information would be made public if requested, but he added later that he hasn't received complaints of employers being harassed.

Toward the end of the workshop, John Lopez of Vista said he was tired of taxpayers' subsidizing health care and other benefits for illegal immigrants. The day-labor law would have been unnecessary if the federal government had enforced border security, he said.

Mark Becker, a member of the Vista Citizens Brigade, which opposes hiring day laborers, asked why employers don't have to confirm laborers' eligibility to work in the United States.

Wilson said the city only enforces the registration law.