Jun 8, 2007 5:51 pm US/Pacific

Campbell Police To Target Those Who Hire Day Labor

Video at the link
Len Ramirez
Reporting

(CBS 5) CAMPBELL Campbell police plan to start going after those who hire day laborers in a new effort to crack down on the crowds of mostly men who gather each day on city sidewalks looking for jobs.

The Home Depot store on Hamilton Avenue is a mecca for both do-it-yourselfers and people who hire out.

And there's never a shortage of laborers. Dozens, sometimes hundreds of them, stand on the outskirts of the parking lot looking for a day jobs -- people like Gustavo Juarez who said he immigrated legally from Honduras.

"We're out here for one reason: to make money and feed our families," he said.

They're trying to make money, and the people who hire them on the spot are trying to save it.

It's gone on for years, but now, under pressure from nearby property owners, the city may try a new tactic: leave the laborers alone but crack down on the people who hire them by enforcing labor laws.

"If you don't have insurance or take out taxes for that employee, there are some legal ramifications for not doing that," said Campbell police Capt. Greg Finch.

It's the same thinking behind prostitution crackdowns that target the johns -- make the end user squirm and the problem may go away.

Home Depot shopper Esteban Vasquez hopes it works.

"If they're bugging people, harassing people, sometimes they run up to your car, it's like, get away," he said.

But laborer Cesar Hernandez thinks the tactic will backfire. Hernandez is a former gang member who can't get hired in other places because of his tattoos.

He said the men looking for work are providing a service and are harmless. They even bring plastic trash bags to the area to help clean up, he added.

"The economy is slow man. What do they expect us to do? Sell drugs? Go back to the streets and start robbing people? We don't want to do that," Hernandez said.

And he doubts the city really would arrest or cite the types of people who hire him.

"Cops, lawyers, people from the government -- they pick us up and take us to clean up their yards," he said.

http://cbs5.com/local/local_story_159205215.html