Thread: Day laborers "trying to improve image"

Improve your image by complying with the law and go home!

Friday, March 28, 2008
Lake Forest day laborers will volunteer time in fire-damaged areas
Workers seek to demonstrate their contributions to community and give back.
By ALEJANDRA MOLINA
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Comments | Recommend


LAKE FOREST – Elfego Fuentes and other fellow day laborers will meet on Jeronimo Road Saturday morning not to solicit for work but to volunteer, and improve their image.

Lake Forest day laborers along with laborers from Los Angeles will take part in a project to aid communities affected by last year's fires. The day of service by the Day Laborer Fire Relief Brigade is one of several in Southern California organized by area day laborers.

"The idea came from them (day laborers)," said Veronica Federovsky, West Coast coordinator for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. "When the fire started in OC they told me, 'We want to help but we don't know how.'"

Day laborers will meet at 8 a.m. on Jeronimo Road and will be taken to Modjeska Canyon to repair some of the damage caused by the fire. Workers will help stop erosion that could lead to property damage.

For Lake Forest laborers, the day of service is a way to integrate in the communities that they live and work in.

"We want to show that we don't bother anyone," said Fuentes, 23, a Lake Forest resident who came from Guatemala about four years ago. "We give a lending hand when they need us….we want to give back to the community."

The Inter-Canyon League Santiago Fire Recovery Group will provide food and drinks for the crew of about 40 laborers. Day laborers will meet in Modjeska Canyon at 9 a.m. to get organized and then go to the work sites.

Federovsky said the morning will start with a press conference where labor and immigrant rights organizations will discuss the tactics that Lake Forest has been using against day laborers. They will also talk about contributions day laborers make to the different communities where they seek for work, she said.

Workers filed a suit last year backed by American Civil Liberties Union opposing an ordinance that banned people from soliciting work on sidewalks in Lake Forest. While the city struck down the rule last spring, ACLU attorneys haven't withdrawn the suit, arguing that deputies still park patrol cars at the corner to intimidate prospective employers and hound workers.

In 2006, the city passed a no-trespassing law that can restrict the laborers to standing on the sidewalk when soliciting jobs.

Business owners and residents have complained for more than a decade about day laborers congregating around the half-mile area. They say the men loiter, urinate in public and litter.

"We want to show that we're not criminals," said Ivan Perez, 20, who lives in Santa Ana and has been standing for work in Lake Forest for about three years now. "We want to help."

Contact the writer: amolina@ocregister.com or 949-454-7360
http://tinyurl.com/3xq9eb

They would make a better impression on me if they would volunteer to drive a bus load of illegal aliens back home!

RELATED:

Saturday, March 29, 2008
Day laborers serve community while taking stand
About 40 day workers secure fire-scarred canyon walls while stating their case in Modjeska.
By ALEJANDRA MOLINA
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Comments | Recommend


MODJESKA CANYON - Carrying hammers and rakes, Gustavo Vasquez and about 40 other day laborers climbed steep canyon hills Saturday to help prevent possible erosion from last fall's Santiago Fire, symbolizing their desire to contribute in the very communities where they live and seek work in.

"This is to demonstrate that we really are here to serve in the United States," said Vasquez, 28, a Lake Forest resident who came from Guatemala to the United States about two years ago and has been looking for work in the city ever since.

The day of service by the Day Laborer Fire Relief Brigade was one of two thus far in Southern California organized by area day laborers to aid communities affected by last year's fires; the other was in Malibu in November. Most of the laborers on Saturday were from Lake Forest, with some from Los Angeles.

The laborers, working for about three hours each, installed roughly 2 1/2 tons of netting to cover the mouth of an arroyo that has sent mud and water to nearby houses in the area since the fire.

"We've been really concerned … . A hard rain will really inundate us," said John Kinsman, who welcomed the day laborers to work on the hills on the family's back yard.

"We want to show that we don't bother anyone," said Elfego Fuentes, 23, of Lake Forest, who came from Guatemala about four years ago. "We give a lending hand when they need us… . We want to give back to the community."

"The idea came from them (day laborers)," said Veronica Federovsky, West Coast coordinator for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. "When the fire started in O.C., they told me, 'We want to help but we don't know how.'"

When asked about reader comments on this story about the laborers' role in this event, Federovsky said, "It was all volunteer work by the day laborers. Nobody got paid for the work they did."

The morning began with a brief news conference in which laborers, along with labor and immigrant-rights organizations, discussed how the city of Lake Forest has been dealing with day laborers.

During the briefing, a handful people opposed to illegal immigration spoke against day laborers, shouting, "Stop loitering in public" and "Go home."

"We don't hate you but we don't fear you, either," Pablo Alvarado, coordinator for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, responded in English and Spanish as he was addressing day laborers. "Hatred cannot be fought with more hatred."

Tension is high on the Lake Forest corner of El Toro and Jeronimo roads where laborers solicit work.

Business owners and residents have complained for more than a decade about day laborers congregating around the half-mile area. They say the men loiter, urinate in public and litter.

Workers filed suit last year backed by the American Civil Liberties Union opposing an ordinance that banned people from soliciting work on sidewalks in Lake Forest. While the city struck down the ordinance last spring, the ACLU hasn't withdrawn the suit, arguing that deputies still park patrol cars at the corner to intimidate prospective employers and hound workers.

In 2006, the city passed a no-trespassing law that can restrict the laborers to standing on the sidewalk when soliciting jobs.

"We want to show that we're not criminals," said Ivan Perez, 20, who lives in Santa Ana and has been standing for work in Lake Forest for about three years now. "We want to help."

Contact the writer: amolina@ocregister.com or 949-454-7360
http://tinyurl.com/2u65um

It looks like a good opportunity to round them up.

Why don't they go to the border and clean up all of the trash that they leave behind when crossing?

You can put 'em in a suit and tie and give 'em lessons in manners and class...if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...it's a duck. At least 8 out of 10 "day laborers" are illegal aliens. QUACK!!!

Well, look out. Check out this article about English Only Speaking American Firefighters getting laid off or demoted because they don't speak Spanish.

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-109760-firefighters.html

If they want to help......

-clean up the border trash
-liquidate their assets
-go back to Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador or wherever as soon as possible.

Come back when....
-you have a legally valid visa
-you've been checked medically
-you've cleared a criminal background check
-you speak English
-you have at least a high school education
-you have a skilled profession/trade
-you have already secured gainful employment
-you will be able to pay for your own health insurance

If they are sincere about "improving their image" they will self-deport, apply, and enter our country the legal way (with no gaurantee). Until such time, these lame attempts at public relations are a transparent charade.

Think of what they could do in their own beloved countries with this type of initiative and drive.