Thread: Judge stops Redondo Beach from using ordinance to arrest lab

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Posted on Tue, May. 02, 2006

Judge stops Redondo Beach from using ordinance to arrest laborers

PETER PRENGAMAN
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - A federal judge prohibited the city of Redondo Beach from arresting day laborers for violating a local ordinance against soliciting work in public.

In the strongly worded decision disclosed Tuesday by lawyers, U.S. District Judge Consuelo Marshall said the ordinance violated the First Amendment right to free speech.

The ruling is likely to draw close attention across the country as cities struggle to deal with increasing numbers of day laborers.

"This sends a strong message to municipalities that they can't eliminate the presence of day laborers in the street," said Pablo Alvarado, director of the National Day Labor Organizing Network, which filed the lawsuit against Redondo Beach.

City Attorney Mike Webb said he planned to appeal unless the City Council directed him otherwise.

"We have to address the residents' valid concerns," Webb said. "And we have to be able to stop people from running out in the street to solicit work."

In the 29-page ruling dated Friday, Marshall said citizen complaints about day laborers were "insufficient to justify preventing all laborers or other solicitors from engaging in speech."

The judge also said the city failed to show other areas where laborers could solicit work.

Marshall ordered city officials to tell police the ordinance could no longer be enforced. Police had suspended enforcement over the past year and a half while the case was pending.

Nationwide cities are dealing differently with increasing numbers of day laborers, many of whom are Hispanic and undocumented.

Some cities built day labor centers, while others have cracked down on workers when residents have complained of loitering. Anti-illegal immigration activists have filed suits against cities that use taxpayer funds to build the centers.

The ordinance in Redondo Beach had been on the books since the late 1980s. It was challenged in late 2004 after 60 day laborers were arrested in stings by undercover police officers posing as people seeking to hire workers.

City officials said they were responding to complaints of blocked traffic, drinking and urinating in public, and disrupting local businesses by loitering.

The National Day Laborer Organizing Network and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund filed suit on behalf of the workers.

One of the men arrested was Braulio Gonzalez, 50, of Guatemala. He said day laborers clapped in celebration when they were told of the judge's decision.

"This is a victory for day laborers," said Gonzalez, who has been soliciting work in Redondo Beach for 24 years. "The police shouldn't bother us now."

the city should rebuttt with ordinances against prostitution.

This is what happens with Liberal Judges. I hope Democrats understand why it's important to have Conservative Judges in office.

dragons5 that is exactly what I was thinking lol..great minds....

If they can solicite for work I guess the common hoe can too.

And so the rush to third world status continues by judicial decree.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printeditio ... california

Judge Blocks Arrests of Day Laborers
The ruling states that a Redondo Beach law that bars people from gathering on sidewalks while seeking work is unconstitutional.
By Anna Gorman
Times Staff Writer

May 3, 2006

In a victory for day laborers, a federal judge has blocked the city of Redondo Beach from arresting workers who look for jobs on public sidewalks.

"This is an important, full vindication for day laborers who seek only the right to fill jobs that willing employers are offering," said San Francisco-based attorney Robert Rubin, who represented the workers.

The decision follows a fall 2004 sting operation, in which Redondo Beach police arrested more than 60 day laborers under an ordinance aimed at better controlling traffic. The workers responded by marching on City Hall and filing a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. Judge Consuelo B. Marshall then issued a temporary injunction against the city.

The judge handed down her latest ruling Monday, the same day hundreds of thousands of protesters — including many day laborers — joined in marches for immigrants' rights.

The increasing number of day laborers and the way cities respond to them have become part of the ongoing immigration debate playing out in Washington, D.C., and around the nation. For example, proposed federal legislation would require day laborer centers to check the legal status of workers and would bar cities and states from requiring companies to build day-laborer hiring centers.

The Redondo Beach ordinance, which was passed in the late 1980s, bars people from standing on public streets, sidewalks and curbs while soliciting work from passing motor vehicles. The city said the ordinance was needed to control traffic and prevent a public nuisance.

But in the court decision, Marshall wrote that the ordinance was unconstitutional because it was too broad and could conceivably restrict people from hailing taxis, or Girl Scouts from selling cookies outside of their school.

Marshall also noted that the workers did not have other places to wait for work, such as a hiring hall.

City Atty. Mike Webb said Tuesday that he was frustrated by the decision and planned to appeal, unless directed otherwise by the mayor or City Council.

"Police continue to get complaints from both residents and businesses in the area," Webb said. "This has been the only solution that has worked."

Webb said the issue was never about illegal immigration, but rather about public safety. But now, he said, "Maybe you just can't avoid that issue anymore."

If the city decides not to appeal, Webb said officials will need to either revise the ordinance or figure out another option.

Rubin, the attorney for the workers, said he hopes Marshall's decision will send a message to other cities with similar ordinances or plans for such laws to reconsider.

Braulio Gonzalez, a Redondo Beach day laborer for more than two decades, said he felt relieved that workers would no longer have to worry about police.

"We are so happy," said Gonzalez, a legal immigrant from Guatemala. "We are ready to make a party."

The judge's name is Consuelo, hmmmmm.