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Day Laborers File Lawsuit Against City
Tuesday , December 11, 2007 Posted: 07:18 PM


Men arrested for solicitation

BROWNSVILLE - Day laborers say police are bullying them. Now an attorney filed a lawsuit against the City of Brownsville on their behalf.

Jesus Cuello says Brownsville police arrested him for solicitation. He tells us it happened here at the corner of Adams and 14th Street. It's a well-known area for day laborers to find work.

The 54-year-old says officers suspected him of panhandling. Mario Ramos was also arrested. He tells us he wasn't doing anything wrong. He was only trying to find a good day's work somewhere.

Nathaniel Norton is an attorney from the Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid. He's representing these men.

"These are jobs that the economy need, contractors need, homeowners need and that the workers need to support themselves and their families," Norton explains. "The city and the police have been coming by... threatening people with arrest and arresting people for standing on the sidewalk, looking for work."

Norton says the arrests violate the U.S. Constitution.

NEWSCHANNEL 5 spoke the attorney representing the city, Charles Willette Jr.

He says, "We think (there are) some common grounds that we can work out to resolve this matter between the plaintiffs and the city. We are in the process of doing that right now at this moment."

Willette tells NEWSCHANNEL 5 the arrest on solicitation charges are under review, since the actual charge is solicitation by a pedestrian.

That state statute says, "A person may not stand in a roadway to solicit a ride, contribution, employment or business from an occupant of a vehicle..."

There's an exception for people collecting money for charity. But, even in that case, collectors need permission from local authorities.

The day laborers say they were on a sidewalk, no the roadway, and shouldn't have been arrested. A hearing is scheduled for Monday in federal court.

The attorney representing the city says he hopes the two sides will reach an agreement before then.

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