Free Republic

Social justice and immigration advocates joined with some Herndon residents Tuesday morning to ask the Herndon Town Council to rescind an ordinance they say violates day laborers' civil rights. The anti-solicitation ordinance prohibits people standing on town roads to communicate to drivers that they are looking for work, distribute pamphlets or ask for contributions. The council is scheduled to discuss the ordinance in closed session Tuesday night. Specifically forbidding people to tell drivers they are looking for work instead of outlawing all communication is a violation of a person's First Amendment rights, said Anita Sinha, an attorney with Advancement Project,...

"The most visible absence from the budget is the city's annual Fourth of July fireworks display at Main Beach – a $25,000 cost that the city elected to stop after next month's celebration." -------------------------------------------------------- According to the OC Register, the City of Laguna Beach has ordered that the 4th of July fireworks celebrations be canceled due to the city's poor economic condition. However, the city will continue to fund the illegal alien day labor site as their second highest funded community programs. (The first highest program receives only $1,000 more). The 4th of July fireworks cost the city $25,000 yearly....

There are a couple of interesting articles in the news about illegal immigration today. Let's take a look at this one. http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2009/03/08/a1a_homedepot_0309.html?imw=Y Apparently mobs of 'day laborers' (euphemism for illegal alien) are descending on Home Depot customers as they attempt to go shopping. Naturally enough, the shoppers find this intimidating, if not frightening. With the typical corporate courage so common among businesses today, Home Depot's reply is basically 'this isn't our problem'.

Waukesha Police say an illegal alien has confessed to the sexual assault of a physically disabled woman. Police arrested Juan Carlos Rojas-Sierra, 34, who they say admitted to the crime. "He ended up confessing to breaking into the apartment and sexually assaulting this woman," said Waukesha Police Captain Mark Stigler. The crime occurred last month on the 2800 block of University Drive in Waukesha. "The suspect in this case actually lived in that area and had prior passing contact with the victim," states Stigler. "That's how she knew who she was and where she lived. "This is not a crime...

A Los Angeles City Council committee unanimously recommended an ordinance that would require home improvement stores that are 100,000 square feet or larger, or any building with 250,000 square feet or more of warehouse floor area, to set aside space for day laborers. The space required must include shelter from the elements, be easily accessible and equipped with drinking water, bathrooms, tables with seating, free condoms, and trash receptacles. Bethany Leal of the Multi-Ethnic Immigrant Worker Organizing Network, urged adoption of the ordinance. “These immigrants have journeyed far from their native countries,” Leal observed. “Most have entered the United States...

Martin Coyotecatl-Aca, his younger brother Jesus and a friend, Ricardo Gonzales-Gutierez worked for 10 hours as day laborers ripping shingles off a roof. At the end of the two days, they said, their boss refused to pay them for one of the days. What happened next is in dispute. The three now are sitting in the Passaic County Jail, charged with robbery and facing possible deportation, according to Detective Capt. Robert Rowan of the Clifton Police Department. A lawyer for the three Mexican nationals, whose names were supplied by police and who all live in Passaic, say the men are...

... Nearly two years after the center closed, dozens of men in blue jeans and sweatshirts line the sidewalks near the old job center site on any given day. Instead of taking numbers and waiting for a day's work, they mass at storefronts, on lawns and at nearby businesses, such as 7-Eleven and U-Haul... The job center "was well known all throughout Southern California," said Rufio Garay-Pablo, ... "It was the most organized and best run. … Today, it's a real mess out here. You have people all up and down the street, and the businesses and the residents aren't...

ACLU sues to block the city's release of names of residents who obtain a permit to hire day laborers. Newspapers oppose the bid. The often-emotional debate over immigration roiling cities across the country has morphed here into an unusual clash between individual privacy rights and public access to governmental records. The privacy rights at issue are not those of the immigrants but of the residents who hire them as day laborers from ad hoc hiring centers ... The government records in dispute are permits Vista City Hall issues to residents wishing to hire laborers. Many of the laborers are illegal...

About two dozen demonstrators gathered outside a D.C. Zoning Commission meeting last night to object to plans to place a day-laborer center in a Northeast shopping plaza. "I do not want to see a day-labor center in the area," said Pat Smith, a program analyst who lives a block from the proposed site, near a Home Depot at 901 Rhode Island Ave. NE. "I don't want to see my taxpaying dollars going to illegal immigrants." D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr., Ward 5 Democrat, plans to spend $500,000 in city funds for the project, which he says would also provide...

The Herndon Town Council and town attorney met in closed session last night to discuss legal options after a Fairfax County Circuit Court decision last week declaring the town's anti-solicitation ordinance unconstitutional. The council also was scheduled to discuss a resolution authorizing the town to temporarily operate a day-laborer site at an estimated cost of $11,000 per month after the contract of the center's current operator, Reston Interfaith, expires Sept. 14. It was not clear whether last week's ruling would alter the town's plans to temporarily run the Herndon Official Workers Center while town officials seek a new operator that...

A Herndon Town Council public hearing on the future of a taxpayer-funded day-laborer center moved toward midnight last night, as dozens of speakers signed up to discuss several proposals including a provision to require the center's new operator to verify workers' legal status. The council has applied for a temporary permit extension for the site's operator, Project Hope and Harmony, which does not verify employment eligibility, while the town procures a new operator for the Herndon Official Workers Center that would be required to check legal status. "We're happy that the Town Council is taking a step closer to bringing...

Montgomery County will not follow Prince William and Loudoun counties in denying public services to illegal aliens, but neither will the county enact any sanctuary policies, County Executive Isiah "Ike" Leggett said yesterday. "It's not something that would be on the agenda for Montgomery County," he said of policies such as prohibiting police in all cases from inquiring about immigration status or giving identification cards to undocumented residents. "I think it would add to the toxic debate we've had and I don't think that would be helpful at this point." Mr. Leggett, a Democrat, spoke at a forum in the...

A D.C. Council member says city officials have settled on two possible sites near a Northeast shopping plaza for a center to help reduce problems created by the crowds of people who gather daily looking for work. "The training center, quite frankly, has to be where it would reduce the impact of the guys that are coming," said Harry Thomas Jr., Ward 5 Democrat. Brentwood residents near the plaza are upset and want a solution to the problems, which include some day-laborers drinking on street corners, relieving themselves on walls and sleeping under porches.

VISTA ---- The American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties will ask a judge to stop Vista from releasing the names, addresses and phone numbers of private individuals who have registered with the city as day-labor employers, an attorney with the group said Thursday. The ACLU's legal director, David Blair-Loy, said he would file a class action complaint today in Superior Court on behalf of four anonymous employers to block the release of the information, which has been requested by a local anti-illegal immigration activist. "This is just one of those cases where, I think, the right...

Although the city didn't renew its contract, private funds will keep it open another year The doors at a prominent Houston day labor center won't be closing any time soon after all. The controversial day labor site, slated to close after a city contract expired last month, will operate for another year with $100,000 in private funding, officials confirmed on Monday. The center had been Houston's only city-funded day labor facility. The East End Worker Development Center, at the corner of North Sampson and Commerce, was the focus of a bitter City Hall debate last spring after opponents said the...

Herndon officials are considering proposals that would bar Illegal aliens from using the town"s day-laborer center. The town has received two proposals for a new day-laborer site that would check workers" immigration status, Herndon spokeswoman Anne Curtis said. The new site would replace the Herndon Official Workers Center, which is run by the Project Hope & Harmony group and does not mandate legal status. An internal staff committee led by the town manager must evaluate the proposals and determine whether to bring one before the full Town Council, Ms. Curtis said. Town officials in January issued an official request for...

Montgomery County, Md. – The opening of the new Shady Grove day-labor center is running both high costs and stirring debate. The controversial opening of the center, created to promote a haven for primarily undocumented immigrants to offer day labor services, is grossly over budget. As activists ask for more funding, the city council is putting their foot down. The temporary double wide office trailers are run by the advocacy group Casa of Maryland. Day-laborers, who previously stood along route 355 in Gaithersburg, now are able to legally offer their temporary services for landscaping, construction, painting and plumbing tasks... The...

Maryland lawmakers provided few answers to Wheaton residents seeking an end to overcrowded homes, a parking shortage and other problems created by what they say is an influx of illegal aliens in their community. "Every single issue that you all have raised is a local county issue," Delegate Ana Sol Gutierrez, Montgomery County Democrat, said at a community meeting Thursday at Wheaton High School. "None of us sitting up here can do anything about it. Immigration is a federal issue." State Sen. Richard Stuart Madaleno Jr., Montgomery County Democrat, yesterday also deferred to the county to resolve the problems. "Most...

The Montgomery County Planning Board yesterday voted unanimously to approve plans for the county's third day-labor center on county-owned land near the Gaithersburg city limits, despite fierce opposition from some residents. Eighteen persons spoke at a public hearing yesterday, both for and against establishing the temporary center near Shady Grove Road and Crabbs Branch Way in Derwood.

Planning Board In Favor Of Another Day-Labor Center (Rockville, MD) -- The Montgomery County Planning Board on Thursday voted in favor of a plan supported by County Executive Isiah Leggett to open a third county-funded day laborer center between Rockville and Gaithersburg. The "Washington Post" reports it could bring an end to the local debate on immigration. Some residents at the hearing called the plan a nuisance, having workers gathering on their streets. For almost a year, Gaithersburg leaders and the county have been at odds over where to locate the center for 40 mostly immigrant workers, who meet at...