Posted on 03/05/2007 7:46:41 AM PST by SwinneySwitch
Advocates offer support to workers; others aim to expose illegal status
GARLAND – Tucked between railroad tracks and a cemetery is a site that is part of a national debate over blue-collar workers outfitted with sturdy work boots but flimsy work documents.
On one side are U.S. citizens who want to expose and shame employers who hire illegal immigrant workers.
On the other are Mexican diplomats and U.S. advocates who want to ensure that both legal and illegal immigrant workers get a fair shake.
And in the middle is the city of Garland, along with others in North Texas that operate day labor centers to control the traffic chaos from workers swarming vehicles driven by prospective employers.
Around the nation, day labor sites for casual laborers have operated for years with little fanfare.
But increasingly, they're flash points in communities coast to coast, as residents and anti-immigrant groups take matters into their own hands and nonimmigrant workers complain that they're getting pushed out of jobs. One legislator has proposed that cities be banned from building or operating day labor sites.
Recently, the Mexican Consulate in Dallas launched a know-your-rights campaign at day labor sites after a teenage worker at one site was picked up by a man pretending to be an employer and was subsequently turned over to immigration authorities. The Mexican diplomats want to explain to workers that federal minimum wage and occupational safety and health laws apply to everyone – regardless of status.
"These people are so vulnerable," says Eduardo Rea, who works in protective services for the Mexican Consulate in Dallas, which serves one of the nation's largest Mexican communities.
Clark Kirby, the state director for the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps, said his group wants illegal immigration curtailed and that day labor sites "aid and abet" illegal....
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
They should be treated as illegal aliens!
They should be treated as illegal aliens!
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They are! The White House is making sure of that -- with over $100 BILLION per year for medical costs, education, welfare, free airplane rides back to Mexico, and cooperation from our banks to help export $20-$30 BILLION per year out of the American economy back into Mexico.
I think I am going to become an illegal alien, and let the U.S. taxpayer and politicians subsidize me for my vote for a while ----
Yesterday we were at breakfast and two men came in on inline skates and sat next to us. The older of the two talked on and on about how he went to the day labor corner and picked up a couple 'messkins' to gut his house for remodel. How he fed them a nice lunch, and fed them well, and even gave one guy a cerveza.
It was all I could do to keep from pouncing on him. The nerve.
"The Mexican diplomats want to explain to workers that federal minimum wage and occupational safety and health laws apply to everyone – regardless of status."
But this doesn't apply: US CODE, TITLE 8—ALIENS AND NATIONALITY.
What do they care? They will just raise the taxes on those are paying.
I've often wondered if that is not a blatant, State-supported violation of U.S. immigration law...
ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
"bullet-riddled "Boyhood Home of President Bill Clinton" sign!
We stopped and had our pictures taken there!
<offtopic>Oooh, I'd like to see that!</offtopic>
I read the story earlier today in the DMN. Here in Plano, we have a large facility mentioned in the article.
Maybe the Mexican drug money payoffs are so high that they are able to "overcome" their sense of guilt and their loyalty to America.
In Austin,TX. there's one day-labor site that cost the taxpayers $250,000 per yr. They're looking for a site for a second.
And the tea sippers will get it. How about on the capitol grounds?
You should have asked him if he is planning on installing new door locks on the house or going to wait until after the breakin.
Actually, Hope is more of a relay station on the illegal stagecoach line coming from Mexico. The migrant center has been there for at least 40 years.
Tsk, you do know you are profiling, right? ;O)
Sounds like an effective spot to valve off the pipline and re-route the flow back whence it came.
Profiling? Not me. Illegals are criminals. We both know that. So why would I be profiling to assume the would continue with their illegal ways?
You may not believe this, but I said the same thing and it got me banned from a conservative site! The mod argued that 'the only law illegals break is being here illegally.'
I posted the stats on prison inmates. Astoundingly, a very high percentage of illegals ARE criminals.
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