NDLON in the News

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Day laborer ban struck down

September 21, click 2011 | Source: Associated Press

A divided federal appeals court Friday struck down Redondo Beach’s ban on day laborers who stand on public sidewalks soliciting work from motorists.

Judge Milan D. Smith Jr., writing for the nine-judge majority of the special 11-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said Redondo Beach’s ordinance violated the workers’ free speech rights and was so broad that it also made it illegal for children to shout “car wash” to passing drivers.

Smith said the ordinance “regulates significantly more speech than is necessary to achieve the city’s purpose of improving traffic safety and traffic flow at two major Redondo Beach intersections, and the city could have achieved these goals through less restrictive measures, such as the enforcement of existing traffic laws.”
City Councilman Matt Kilroy, who represents the council district where day laborers congregate on Manhattan Beach Boulevard, called the court’s ruling “amazing.”

“This is not a day laborer law,” Kilroy said. “This is a public safety law that has to do with soliciting vehicles from the sidewalk from public areas and the traffic hazards it causes.”

Redondo Beach City Attorney Michael Webb said he would consult with the City Council and mayor to decide whether to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the case.

A three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based appeals court originally upheld the ban, but the specially convened panel of 11 judges voted 9-2 to overturn the earlier decision.

Judges Alex Kozinski and Carlos Bea dissented.

“This is folly,” wrote Kozinski, who noted that as many as 75 workers often would congregate at a busy intersection.

“As might be expected when large groups of men gather at a single location, they litter, vandalize, urinate, block the sidewalk, harass females and damage property,” Kozinski wrote. “Cars and trucks stop to negotiate employment and load up laborers, disrupting traffic.”

Kozinski said it was the city’s duty to protect its residents from such nuisances.
“Nothing in the First Amendment prevents government from ensuring that sidewalks are reserved for walking rather than loitering, streets are used as thoroughfares rather than open air hiring halls and bushes serve as adornment rather than latrines,” Kozinski said. “The majority is demonstrably, egregiously, recklessly wrong. If I could dissent twice, I would.”

Redondo Beach officials enacted the ban because they said the workers were interfering with traffic and pedestrians.

Kilroy said residents continue to question, “Why aren’t you doing something about this?”

“It’s something we get a lot of concern about from the citizens of Redondo Beach,” he said. “It still remains a safety concern. It’s not safe to solicit cars that come to a screeching halt in the public right-of-way. That’s really what this ordinance is all about.”

Redondo Beach officials were ordered to suspend enforcing the law in 2004 until a workers’ lawsuit against it was resolved.

Thomas Saenz, a Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund lawyer who represented the workers, said the court’s ruling against Redondo Beach most likely will put an end to similar bans in other western cities, including about 50 in California.

“It calls them all into very serious question,” Saenz said. “Each municipality with such an ordinance should immediately suspend and repeal its law.”

Pablo Alvarado, director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said the Redondo Beach ban and the dozens that followed were intended to “to render day laborers invisible.”

“For the past two decades, the ordinances have stigmatized day laborers as criminals — now they are civil rights leaders,” Alvarado said.

The ruling also struck down a Phoenix law prohibiting the political action group ACORN from soliciting donations from motorists stopped at red lights. Redondo Beach based its ban on the Phoenix law.

Kilroy said the city’s ordinance did nothing to stop a motorist from pulling into a private parking lot and entering into a transaction with a day laborer. It addressed only the public street.

Larry Altman contributed to this article.

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Arturo Venegas Sets Example for Failed DHS Taskforce. Resignation Makes Former Sacramento Chief Hero in Immigrant Communities

Washington DC.
See Complete Report Here: http://altopolimigra.com/s-comm-shadow-report/
After a firestorm of controversy over the Se Communities deportation program (or “SCOMM”), a committee charged with providing recommendations to the Department of Homeland Security has failed to reach consensus with taskforce members beginning to resign.
Sarahi Uribe of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network praised the first to resign, “”Arturo Venegas is setting the example and leading the way for taskforce members to match the courage of those who stood up at taskforce hearings calling for an end of the program. His resignation today makes him a hero in the immigrant community.”
The Se Communities Task Force was widely viewed as an effort by DHS to dampen growing criticism of the discredited program rather than an earnest attempt to seek input from the program’s detractors. In contrast to the DHS task force, a broad coalition of experts achieved complete consensus in a shadow report recommending the complete termination of SCOMM.
Chris Newman, Legal Director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network issued the following statement:
“Rather than sweep SCOMM’s catastrophic flaws under a rug, the administration should end the program. DHS has used unprecedented deception to sell a dangerous program to the American public, and its use of this task force is no different. It is clear DHS set the task force up as a ruse to cover up its colossal failure, but it didn’t work.
“The task force report will only lead to more controversy over SCOMM as questions are raised about why it couldn’t achieve consensus, and as everyone now watches to see whether the White House will finally hold DHS accountable.
“S-Comm is leading to the ‘Arizonification’ of the United States. Immediate suspension pending a genuine review by the Inspector General will be required to regain public trust in DHS. An end to the program will be required to advance the goal of immigration reform.”
Background on Parallel Report:
“The Se Communities program should be ended,” is the central recommendation of a report authored by broad coalition of prominent local and national immigrant rights group and endorsed by over 150 organizations. The report, which features the voices of law enforcement, judges, academics, and directly impacted individuals, chronicles the deception of Immigration and Customs Enforcement uncovered through FOIA litigation, local organizing, and advocacy. The report clearly lays out demonstrable negative impacts SCOMM has had on community safety and civil rights.
For example, Ron Hampton president of Black Law Enforcement in America writes in the report, “Opposition to Se Communities “is rooted in common sense: counties and states across the country rely on the relationships of the communities they serve to combat and solve crime. It is foolish to sever this tie in order to enforce civil immigration law.”
Echoing the concerns of other law enforcement officials and experts, Robert Morgenthau, former New York City District Attorney, wrote in the report, “When immigrants perceive the local police force as merely an arm of the federal immigration authority, they become reluctant to report criminal activity for fear of being turned over to federal officials.”
The report also included the testimony of Joaquin, a resident of Homestead, Florida who was wrongfully arrested and assaulted by police and now faces deportation because of the Se Communities program. He wrote, “I never committed a crime but now I am facing going back to my country. My plans, my dreams, everything was changed.
Background on the Se Communities Task Force:
The task force has been discredited by the immigrant rights movement since its inception. Shortly after its creation 200 organizations, including civil rights groups, labor, faith as well as some law enforcement leaders sent a letter to John Morton, ICE’s director, on July 20th raising concern about the scope of the task force, its lack of transparency, and its inadequate process to review the program in light of the pending Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General audit. Groups urged ICE to immediately suspend the program.
A second letter with over 160 groups was sent to the task force asking them to resign following the August 5th, announcement by ICE that the agency would unilaterally terminate all agreements and impose the program on all cities and states despite objections that the program damages public safety and the decisions of Illinois, New York, and Massachusetts to not participation in the program. (attached) The agency’s shift to make the program an unfunded mandate after two years of operation and over 43 Memorandums of Agreements signed with states (they included termination clauses), defied basic democratic principles and further exposed the agency as rogue and lacking any regard for the “nation’s courts, local and state law-makers, law enforcement, and communities—much less this task force.”
At community hearings held this summer by the task force in Dallas, Los Angeles, Illinois, and Arlington, Virginia the members were met with massive protests, walk outs, acts of civil disobedience, and calls to resign from the “sham” task force and to end the program.
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Nationwide Actions Condemn E-Verify Program as Direct Attack on Immigrants, Workers and the Economy

New York, NY: Community leaders, small business owners, and workers are participating in a nationwide day of action to speak out against H.R. 2164, legislation presented by Texas Congressman Lamar Smith, which would make the E-Verify program mandatory for nearly every employer in the United States. This legislation is expected to be taken up by the House Judiciary committee for markup at the end of this week.

Mandatory E-Verify is a jobs killer. It is bad for working people, bad for business and bad for the economy. If Congress mandates the use of E-Verify, forcing every business in the country to screen every employee with an error-ridden Department of Homeland Security computer database, over one million workers will likely lose their jobs. Industries like agriculture that rely on immigrant workers will be devastated, while small businesses will be taxed by having to shoulder the significant costs necessary to implement the computer system.
Anti-immigrant extremist politicians in Washington champion E-Verify and the bill has been a key component of notorious anti-immigrant hate legislation at the state level, like HB 56 in Alabama. While the United States has historically been a nation of immigrants, E-Verify panders to a vocal anti-immigrant minority that has dominated the immigration discussion.
Local actions point out that E-Verify will hurt all businesses and the fragile economy, and will leave workers more vulnerable to abuse on the job by giving unscrupulous employers yet another tool to use against workers who try to stand up for their rights.
“The truth is that E-Verify is a jobs killer and that the system needs to be fixed. We need comprehensive solutions to raise wages for our workers, make sure they work in good conditions, and ensure that everyone is on a level playing field,” said Jaime Contreras, SEIU 32BJ District Chair.
Small business owners are joining local actions because E-Verify will place a significant burden on small businesses, raising their costs even as they are struggling in this economy. Almost every business—no matter how small—will be forced to implement this complicated system. For many small businesses, many of which can’t afford a human resources department, this could be disastrous. The estimated cost to small businesses is $2.6 billion, according to Bloomberg News. More than 770,000 citizen and legal workers will wrongly be marked as ineligible for work due to errors in government databases.
“This E-Verify proposal is bad for small businesses, bad for our workforce, and bad for the country’s bottom line,” said small business owner David Borris. “We need the U.S. Chamber to listen to small business, and withdraw its support for this flawed proposal. Why is the Chamber nibbling around the margins and accepting a piecemeal non-solution that will have a serious negative impact on small businesses?”

Participating localities include: Austin, Texas; Boston, Massachusetts; Washington DC; and Long Island, New York.
Coordinated by National Day Laborer Organizing Network, National Immigration Law Center, Jobs with Justice, National Employment Law Project and the Service Employees International Union.
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Se Communities Scrutiny Expands to FBI

Washington, DC. Yesterday, on the tenth anniversary of September 11th, 70 civil rights, immigrants’ rights, and privacy rights groups sent a letter calling on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate the FBI’s role in the controversial Se Communities deportation program (S-Comm) and the Next Generation Identification (NGI) initiative. The letter urged an immediate Inspector General audit of both programs.

Documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act litigation by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and the Cardozo Immigration Justice Clinic revealed that S-Comm is the first step in NGI, an unprecedented, billion dollar initiative to create the world’s largest biometric database. NGI will expand on S-Comm by forcing greater collection and dissemination of personal information between federal agencies, without the consent of the states that provide the information. NGI will also expand the types of information collected to include iris scans, palm prints, and facial recognition scans, along with the traditional fingerprints. Both NGI and S-Comm have their roots in the post-September 11th expansion of domestic surveillance and corresponding weakening of privacy protections.
Chris Newman, Legal Programs Director at the National Day Laborer Organizing Network said: “An unfortunate legacy of 9/11 is the onset of a culture of suspicion that conflated fear of terrorists with fear of immigrants. Secretive and misguided programs like S-Comm contributed to this pernicious fear of newcomers. Ten years after 9/11, there is now a vibrant national discussion about how to preserve security without jettisoning core constitutional values. While many may disagree about how to strike an appropriate balance, we can all agree transparency from the very agencies charged with keeping us safe is absolutely essential. The Department of Justice Office of Inspector General must immediately audit the FBI’s role in S-Comm and the so-called Next Generation Identification Initiative.”
Jessica Karp, Staff Attorney with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network said: “S-Comm has been plagued with problems since it began. ICE is now under investigation for lying to Congress, states, and localities about the program’s scope and the role of state and local partners. Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, and many of the nation’s largest cities have said they want no part of S-Comm. They are concerned that it undermines public safety while encouraging pretextual arrests and racial profiling. An investigation of the FBI’s role in this controversial program is urgently needed. The Inspector General must also investigate the extent to which the problems associated with S-Comm are common to the Next Generation Identification initiative as a whole.”
Letter to DOJ available for download at http://ndlon.org/pdf/dojletterfinal.pdf
Appendix available for download at http://ndlon.org/pdf/dojletterappendix.pdf
More information available at http://uncoverthetruth.org
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Sep22011

Task force looks to help day laborers

Task force looks to help day laborers

By Corinne White | Source: The Daily Tar Heel

Task force looks to help day laborers

Susano Soto, left, order and Lee Johnson, right, work for Raleigh’s Blalock Paving company, which hires many of the day laborers who gather in the area.

Day laborers in the area stand on the corner of Jones Ferry Road and Davie Road, rain or shine.

But Board of Alderman candidates — and local labor advocates ­— want to change that.

At a meeting this week organized by Orange County Justice United, community advocates created location and fundraising committees to work toward creating a center for the day laborers.

“While we take the situation further, we’re trying to identify short-term things we can do and long-term things we should do,” said Julio Olmos, community organizing director for El Centro Hispano.

He said the first short-term step is putting Port-A-Johns at the location.

And though the Carrboro Board of Aldermen is not spearheading the project, incumbent and 2011 candidate Dan Coleman said the board — which fellow candidate Lydia Lavelle also sits on — looks to support the initiative.

Since many day laborers are Hispanic, the main location being considered is El Centro Hispano in Carrboro, Coleman said.

“The key point is that El Centro is intimately connected with the Hispanic community that day laborers mostly come from,” he said.

“So they are in a better position than the town to address these issues.”

Olmos said El Centro’s Carrboro leaders have not yet spoken to its landlord about a restriction in the location’s contract that could disallow the project.

Pilar Rocha-Goldberg, the CEO of El Centro, said the organization talked to representatives from the National Day Laborer Organizing Network in June about the pros and cons of day laborer centers.

The ideal center would include English as a second language and vocational classes, child care, and legal services for the workers and their families, Coleman said.

Coleman said there were reportedly issues with wage theft, when workers do their job and employers do not pay.

The center would be necessary to help the day laborers, who might not understand the American legal system, he said.

The task force also discussed day labor relations with community law enforcement, Olmos said.

Olmos said day laborers he spoke with said some people who congregated in the area are there just to “mess around.”

He said day laborers actually looking for work need to have good relationships with police officers to report the others.

Board of Aldermen candidate Michelle Johnson said any solution would have to address the problems from all sides.

“At best we need to have a holistic view, and I think the holistic version would have job skill training and making sure the workers weren’t getting abused,” Johnson said.

There are more than 70 day laborer centers in the country, Coleman said.

“If people locally look at what’s been achieved elsewhere, they’ll find a way to craft what’s best,” he said.

Board of Alderman candidate Braxton Foushee agreed things need to change.

“I just don’t think that what they have now is working.”

Contact the City Editor

at City@dailytarheel.com.

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Sep12011

Laborers hold out hope: Jobs aren’t guaranteed at the MLK site,

Laborers hold out hope: Jobs aren’t guaranteed at the MLK site, but workers keep coming

By Jennifer Anderson |Source: The Portland Tribune | Sep 1, 2011

Laborers hold out hope: Jobs aren’t guaranteed at the MLK site, __fg_link_2__ but workers keep coming

CHRISTOPHER ONSTOTT / TRIBUNE PHOTO Labor center site Director Ignacio Paramo has helped create a community offering English classes and soccer tournaments. While many laborers find work at the center, story others go without or return to their old street corners.

Day workers at the city-sponsored day labor center have a message to Portland, three years into the operation: “We’re here to work.”

Every morning, 50 to 100 — sometimes up to 120 — workers gather at the site at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, just south of the Oregon Convention Center.

At 7:30 a.m., they put their names into a lottery, which determines who gets jobs as employers roll in. Some days dozens are hired, other days just a handful. They usually earn between $10 and $11 an hour.

Either way, the workers declare the center a success, saying it is a far better alternative to the chaos that reigned at street corners before the work center opened.

“This place is for work,” says Edmundo Caro, a cook who prepares barbacoa and carne asada tacos for Tacos El Jornalero, the taco truck that opened last week at the site to raise money for the center’s operations. “The people that come here come because there’s an order, more organization” than the street corners, Caro says.

Three years into the venture, it’s hard to declare it a success or failure, however. Consider the numbers:

• While the center has provided workers with a total of 11,131 day jobs during the three years, it’s led to just 25 permanent jobs.

• In January, the slowest month of the year, 14 of 75 workers — 18 percent — were hired on the busiest day, Jan. 29. On the slowest day that month, Jan. 11, just one of 77 workers snagged a job.

• Summer is peak season. June 25, the busiest day, saw 39 of 47 workers (82 percent) hired. A week earlier, on June 18, just 7 of 61 workers (11 percent) were hired.

• The center’s first year of operation was the busiest, with 2,405 workers hired in just six months, June to December 2008. In all of 2009, a total of 3,039 workers were hired. In 2010 that climbed to 3,875. This year, a total of 1,812 workers were hired through June. If that pace continues, 2011 will come in just behind last year’s numbers.

The nonprofit Voz Workers’ Rights Education Project, which runs the site, says success is about more than just numbers —it’s about the community they’ve created.

They have established rules (no drinking, s or fighting), daily procedures (the lottery), education (a range of classes taught by volunteer tutors), recreation (a soccer team), and now food.

Tacos are $1, and all proceeds from the taco truck support the venture. Eventually the taco truck may roam various neighborhoods.

“It’s been a good three years,” says Romeo Sosa, Voz’ executive director. “We created trust in the neighborhood and developed a lot of support from all the different groups,” including the surrounding neighborhoods. Laborers have helped to beautify the area, despite the impermanence of their home.

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