Free Republic

A D.C. Council member's plans to place a day-laborer center in Northeast appear to be at a halt as officials struggle to find a property to house the site and community opposition to the center grows. “I don't know if there is ever going to be a final” resolution, said council member Harry Thomas Jr., Ward 5 Democrat, who proposed placing the center near a Brentwood shopping plaza to connect day laborers and others with jobs. “I would just say, 'Stay tuned.' ” As many as 200 mostly Hispanic day laborers congregate each day at the shopping plaza, which includes...

Harry Thomas Jr. is the Ward 5 Council member who is meeting neighborhood opposition to his proposal to plant a day-laborer center near the Home Depot on Rhode Island Avenue Northeast. The otherwise good residents of the Brentwood neighborhood take exception to the day laborers sleeping under their porches, drinking firewater on street corners and irrigating the trees, bushes and walls in their midst. It is a cultural thing, and the fine folks of Brentwood just do not understand. The need to understand those from a foreign land is important, especially if they have come all this way to sleep...

A parcel in the County Service Park, a county-owned cluster of industrial facilities just south of Shady Grove Road, will be the site of a new employment center for day laborers, county officials announced Thursday. The center will be located on a half-acre parcel behind a Department of Liquor Control warehouse at 16640 Crabbs Branch Way. According to a statement from County Executive Isiah Leggett (D), the location is more than half a mile from the closest residential area. It is also about 700 yards from the nearest bus stop. The Shady Grove Metro station is a little more than...

A longstanding day-labor center on Laguna Canyon Road has been ordered closed by Caltrans after an anti-illegal-immigration activist discovered the site was on state land without proper permits. The Laguna Beach City Council responded that it will determine its strategy for dealing with the order at its next meeting, according to Caltrans spokeswoman Pam Gorniak. That meeting is July 11. ....... Minuteman member Eileen Garcia did the research determining that the site did not have necessary permits and presented the information to the California Department of Transportation on Wednesday. Caltrans gave the city a notice on Thursday to remove the...

This caught my eye several months ago and its a good way of enforcing immigration law.This may give you the added tool to enforce immigration law. From the Backrounder In 1996, Congress expanded the Racketeer influenced and Corrupt Organization(RICO) to include violations of federal immigration law. While this expansion may not recieved publicity, it could potentially change the face of U.S. immigration law eforcement. Under the new RICO provisions, a violation of certain provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act(INA) meets the definition of racketeering activity, also know an "predicate offenses" and an entity that engages in a pattern of...

BURBANK -- Protests and demonstrations at the Home Depot day labor center have racked up law enforcement costs of more than $46,000, prompting worries that the extra costs are a burden on city coffers. Between Sept. 30 and April 21, Burbank Police responded to 11 incidents involving anti-illegal immigration protests against center, which offers employment assistance to workers who are often not United States citizens, according to a Burbank Police memo. The memo has raised questions from residents about the purpose of the $94,000 annual fee that Home Depot pays to the city, intended to cover costs related to the...

Herndon, Va. could be Anytown, USA. Day laborers, many of them illegal immigrants, often clogged a 7-Eleven parking lot, creating unsanitary conditions and disorder. After heated debate, the town last month opened a work center for the jobbers. Order now reigns, but the debate rages on as illegal-immigration opponents seek to shut the center. Herndon's actions reflect a national phenomenon about day laborers: Every day, workers gather in about 500 US parking lots and main streets (and increasingly, work centers), hoping they'll be picked for construction or other jobs by drive-up employers, according to a study released this week by...

The trailer that houses Herndon's day-laborer center, scheduled to open this morning, isn't fancy. But it is clean; it is heated; and it has a restroom. For the laborers who plan to use the center, it's a welcome step up from hanging out on a street corner, in nearby parking lots or outside a 7-Eleven. "It's just amenities we try to provide on site so they don't have to go a distance to get the things that they need," said Bill Threlkeld, director of Project Hope and Harmony, a nonprofit group that will operate the center. "Any degree of initial...

The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia is being urged to look into a charge that Herndon officials have violated federal criminal conspiracy laws by creating a day-labor center that helps illegal aliens. U.S. Attorney Paul J. McNulty has received from Rep. Tom Tancredo, Colorado Republican, a letter accusing Herndon officials of conspiracy in seeking to aid illegal aliens, the congressman's office said. In his letter, Mr. Tancredo noted that officials for Project Hope and Harmony -- a group of community leaders and churches that will operate Herndon's day-labor center -- have refused to screen job seekers based...

Memo to our amigos in Central America: The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has agreed to put out a $400,000 welcome mat to ease the illegal transition of your citizens in Herndon, Annandale and Culmore. In case you have not heard, some of your citizens illegally cross the border with bladder conditions and then have no choice but to relieve their discomfort after setting up shop on the grounds of private businesses. We crazy gringos never knew that our Central American friends were afflicted with so many bladder issues. But now we do, and in true American spirit, our duly...