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For Workers Who Get Stiffed, Immigration Status is Irrelevant

 

For Workers Who Get Stiffed, __fg_link_4__  Immigration Status is Irrelevant

Day laborers wait for work on Main Street in the Village of Brewster earlier this month. Credit Ashley Tarr

One attorney says that day laborers should get as much information as possible on the person who hired them.

While one business owner in Brewster says he wants village officials to clear Main Street of the day laborers waiting for work, order some others don’t seem to mind. The mayor says village officials’ hands are tied. The police chief says the men aren’t causing issues for his department. And the day laborers—they say they just want jobs. In this two-day series, Patch takes a look at some of the issues with the day laborers downtown.

Work is picking up for a group of men who spend winters living off savings and trying to pass time in one-bedroom apartments.

For day laborers in the Village of Brewster, the change in seasons means a chance to earn up to $100 a day or $10 an hour — a huge jump from the $7 some say they would earn for a day’s work in their home country of Guatemala. For most laborers, the possibility of bringing home those wages is enough to keep them waiting for work, scarce and unpredictable as it is sometimes.

According to 15 men who spoke to Patch with the help of translator Jaemie Caban, the Brewster Police Department’s community affairs officer, working in half-year cycles is the norm for this community of immigrants.

“It’s a struggle to try to get work here in Brewster,” one laborer told Caban.

Most of the men hope their labor culminates in one of two ways: the ability to send money back home to support their families, or the ability to save, so they can improve their own lives here in America.

But neither of those goals are easy to reach given the wages they make and the rent they pay. Dressed in blue jeans, sweatshirts or sweaters, sneakers or work boots and the occasional “New York City” baseball cap, the group of day laborers standing in front of Maximum Deli on a morning in early April chatted back and forth before agreeing on a range of their average annual incomes and housing costs: Between $8,000 and $12,000, and $400 a month, respectively.

Most said they send at least half of the money back to their home countries. Many shook their heads when asked if they always receive their pay.

“It happens often where they get picked up for work and never get paid for the work they did,” Caban explained after listening to the men for a few moments.

The laborers, whose ages range from 20 to 50, said temporary employers sometimes pick them up for what is supposed to be a multi-day construction job. After the first day—which could last beyond eight hours, as one man said there is no “set time”—the workers are dropped off and told they will be paid the next day when they start the second portion of the job. Often times the men, especially ones who are new and still learning the ropes, never see the person who hired them again.

Earlier this month Caban had one laborer come to her in tears because he was not paid the $800 he was promised.

“I told him it was a civil manner,” she said. “I just advised him to try to get a lawyer. There are lawyers out there that would help because this happens often.”

Sometimes employers scare workers from pursuing unpaid wages with threats of contacting Immigration Services. Many of the men Patch spoke with are here illegally; one said that a number of them are trying to get their green cards. According to that day laborer, the financial and time commitments are challenges. He has spent more than $7,000 so far and is waiting on at least two more court appearances.

The Westchester Hispanic Coalition provides resources for immigrants who are trying to attain legal residency. Based in White Plains, the coalition is also a place where laborers can learn their rights and seek assistance in pursuing unpaid wages.

According to Corinne S. Beth, an immigration attorney with the coalition, employers’ threats should be taken with a grain of salt, as people who hire undocumented workers are breaking the law themselves.

“Legally speaking, immigration status is completely irrelevant to the money a person is owed,” she said.

Beth said it is important for the worker to have as much information on the employer as possible for lawyers at the coalition. They will usually call first, then send a demand letter. If neither of those options are successful, the case could go to small claims court.

While Caban was speaking with the men a car pulled up. The driver asked if he was free to hire the men, two of who were already walking toward the vehicle. They hopped in without any questions.

“The majority of the time they don’t get the name,” Caban said. “They’ll take anything.”

The coalition sees new cases like this almost every week, but there are plenty of workers who do not reach out for help, Beth said. The New York State Department of Labor did not return phone calls seeking specifics on the number of unpaid wage claims submitted last year.

Even with the sometimes sporadic payments and unsteady work, many of the laborers said their experiences in America are pleasant.

“What he wants people to see,” Caban translated for a man who answered many of the questions on behalf of the group, “is that … they’re not all bad.”

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Federal judges block NY town’s day laborer law

APRIL 26, here 2011, 3:46 P.M. ET
Associated Press

GARDEN CITY, there N.Y. — A new court ruling upholds a preliminary injunction barring a Long Island town from enforcing its day laborer ordinance.

The U.S. Court of Appeals decision, released Tuesday, supports a temporary restraining order against the Town of Oyster Bay.

The 2009 ordinance makes it a crime to solicit employment by shouting at cars and waving arms or signs.

Town officials argued that the law was intended to ensure public safety. Critics say it violates the workers’ rights.

The town runs through the center of Long Island from the Atlantic Ocean to the Long Island Sound.

Town Supervisor John Venditto (vehn-DIH’-toh) said in a statement he’s pleased the court did not reject the ordinance as unconstitutional. He said the town looks forward to a full hearing on the matter in court.

—Copyright 2011 Associated Press

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Advocates Support Representative Zoe Lofgren’s Call for Investigation into Se Communities Program

Today California Representative Zoe Lofgren (16th District) called on the Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, ICE Director John Morton, as well as the
Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security and ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPD) to investigate ICE’s Se Communities fingerprint-
sharing program in two separate letters. Rights groups NDLON, CCR and Cardozo support Lofgren’s call for an investigation into Se Communities and whether local
jurisdictions and states have the ability to “opt out” of the program.
In her letter to the OPD, Lofgren wrote: “It is unacceptable for government officials to essentially lie to local governments, Members of Congress, and the public…It is critically important you thoroughly investigate this matter and that any misconduct result in real consequences.”
Se Communities has been criticized and condemned throughout the country since it began in 2008. Through to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by NDLON,
CCR and Cardozo in April 2010, a series of documents and internal emails have been released by advocates which have shown dishonesty and confusion among federal and
state officials charged with implementing the program.
“It’s a good thing the former governor of Arizona – the one who originally prod Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s 287(g) contract in the first place – doesn’t get to rule by decree
in Washington, DC,” said Chris Newman, Legal Director for National Day Laborer Organizing Network.
For more information on the FOIA lawsuit, please visit http://ccrjustice.org/se-communities or http://uncoverthetruth.org….

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California Advances TRUST Act to Stop Arizonification of Jails

Following Lofgren Investigation, former Arizona Governor Napolitano Flies to California to Defend Discredited Program
(Sacramento, CA) The TRUST Act (AB 1081) sponsored by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano passed out of the California public safety committee with all Democrats voting to support it. The bill seeks to repair the damaging impacts of the Immigration Customs Enforcement Agency’s “Se Communities” program. The program has been widely discredited across the country due to the blatant dishonesty exposed in a series of internal emails released by advocates who received them only through litigation under the Freedom of Information Act. Stories of domestic violence survivors and high rates of people still presumed to be innocent being placed into deportation proceedings via its finger-print sharing mechanism further demonstrated how the ICE program’s actual operations are far outside of its Congressional mandate. On Tuesday, a US Citizen testified about being falsely jailed because of the program.
Such developments led California Congresswoman Lofgren to call for an investigation into the program and into how involved ICE Director and DHS Secretary Napolitano may have been in its implementation.
Chris Newman of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network explains, “California will not allow the Arizonification of its law enforcement agencies. The TRUST Act is a modest measure meant to bring some transparency and confidence back to law enforcement after ICE’s rogue effort to enlist police as frontline immigration enforcers. We are confident California lawmakers will step up and create civil rights safeguards that protect our community, even if DHS officials are content to fight among themselves about a program no one fully understands.” …

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Following Allegations of ICE Lies, California Bill Would Renegotiate Participation in Se Communities

Ammiano bill would let localities out of troubled S-Comm immigration program;
Testimony from Sheriff, S-comm victims to show program’s harm to public safety
What: Assembly Public Safety Committee Hearing on AB 1081 (Ammiano), the TRUST Act, which would honor the right of local governments to opt out of ICE’s controversial “Se” Communities or S-Comm Program and set basic standards for jurisdictions that choose to participate.
When: Tuesday, April 26, 2011
* Interview availability at 10:30 AM
* Hearing begins at 9:30; TRUST Act may be heard any time during the hearing.
Where: Room 126, California State Capitol, Sacramento; Interview availability in hallway outside room.
Who: (Available at 10:30 AM)
· San Francisco Sheriff Michael Hennessey
· Retired Sacramento Police Chief Arturo Venegas
· Norma – domestic violence victim facing deportation due to S-Comm

· Another person directly impacted by S-Comm (details to be released Tuesday.)
Note that Asm. Ammiano will be available for comment after the conclusion of the hearing.
Media visuals: Dozens of supporters packing the halls, wearing “Stop S-Comm” t-shirts and stickers, dramatic testimony from immigrants who have experienced hardship and fear due to S-Comm
Background: As Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) faces a growing storm of criticism from public officials over its troubled S-Comm program, the Assembly Public Safety Committee will hear a bill that would grant decision-making power to local governments on whether, and how, to relate to the controversial initiative.
The hearing takes place days after Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D- San Jose) called for an investigation into ICE officials’ “dissembling and deceiving” conduct on the question of whether local governments were required to participate in the burdensome program. According to Rep. Lofgren, ICE was “not honest with the local governments or with me.”
Lofgren’s forceful criticism followed the disclosure of hundreds of…

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Dealing with cancer: Family deals with radiation effects

Wednesday, April 20, 2011
By Clint Confehr, Senior Staff Writer | Marshall Tribune

PALMETTO — George Mitchell is “tired,” and willing to leave this world. He won’t force it, but he’s signed documents so s can refrain from providing that could save his life.

George, 50, and his family trace his maladies to when he and his brother, Doyce, were boys working for a day labor service that sent them to URC, Uranium Recovery Complex, near their home in Mulberry, Fla. They now live on Jack Pickle Lane, a Lewisburg address that’s just east of Marshall County.

“A lot of my es came from the environment where we grew up,” George said.

George and Doyce shoveled rocks into five-gallon buckets and carried them from one place to another. They didn’t know about radioactivity or what it can do to the human body.

The Mitchells are clear that it’s probably impossible to say with certainty that their es are from URC, a nearby phosphorus plant, the bright Florida sun, the boys’ work with asbestos, or their swimming in surface water of unknown quality.

“We grew up swimming in the water and eating the fish we caught,” George said.

“I just want somebody to benefit from what happened to me,” he said at Dr. Melvin Lewis’s office on Mooresville Highway with the who patched him up from a motorcycle accident in 1982.

Referring to George’s skin cancer, Dr. Lewis confirms information about the sun. It’s an on-going nuclear reaction and sunburn is similar to radiation exposure, so people should take his grandmother’s . She wore a bonnet when working in the cotton fields to protect her skin. Use sunscreen.

“Getting a sun tan is not the best thing to do,” Dr. Lewis said. “Skin is one giant organ over our body. It regulates our fluids and removes toxins from our body. We take our skin for granted too much.”

George always wears long-sleeved shirts now.

Too much sun and exposure to radiation can cause skin cancer, Dr. Lewis said. A Vanderbilt , Dr. Anna Clayton, indicated much the same thing in written remarks in response to questions about George’s health.

“Mr. Mitchell has suffered from a large number of squamous-cell carcinomas, an unusual amount for his age,” Dr. Clayton said.

Squamous cells may appear scaly to the naked eye.

“He continues to undergo periodic evaluation, biopsies, and excisional surgery to remove squamous-cell carcinomas that appear,” Dr. Clayton said.

George has an appointment on May 19. More surgery to remove squamous-cell carcinomas is anticipated. “I don’t know if I want this next surgery done,” he said.

Dr. Clayton continued: “Squamous-cell carcinomas can be caused by exposure to sun as well as radiation and increased numbers of them are reported in patients with significant radiation exposure,” she said.

“He did lose his eye due to squamous-cell carcinoma,” she said of surgery that removed George’s right eye.

Dr. Clayton is an assistant professor of in the Vanderbilt University Medical Center Division of Dermatology. Her office is at 100 Oaks Mall.

The Mitchells’ health became an issue for the Bedford County Board of Zoning Appeals in March 2007 when the panel granted them a temporary use permit on a year-to-year basis that sets aside strict enforcement of zoning codes limiting the number of “principal structures” on less than 15 acres.

The Mitchells have had four. The parents’ house and three mobile homes; one each for the brothers, George, Doyce and Eric. They’ve paid for three permits each year.

Bedford’s director of planning, zoning, building and codes, Chris White, has authority to grant extensions on payment and this year he’s granted leeway for the Mitchells who had been paying $30 for three extra dwellings. The fee per unit went up to $100 before White became director eight months ago.

The increase was “to be more consistent with other counties,” White said. Furthermore, there was abuse of what might be seen as a loophole. White knows it’s not typical to have three permits on one lot, but he also acknowledges the Mitchells’ have a “greater burden.”

Electrical and mechanical breakdowns resulted in George deciding to give his trailer away. He lives in his parents’ house now.

So, as the boys’ mother, Naomi, scrapes money together for the fees from government assistance that sustains the family, she, her husband, Lawrence “Buddy,” and the brothers are frank about their family.

Doyce had a “pouty lip,” Naomi says of her son’s lower lip. It protruded like he was pouting. Now, it’s thin since surgeons removed cancer. When they were eight and 12 years old, her sons went to the beach, riding in the back of a pickup truck and Doyce’s lower lip got sunburned.

She’s fair skinned and sees that and sunlight as a reason for what ails her on her leg. Doyce and George have red hair. George’s is darker, but both have had problems with their skin.

In Florida, Buddy was a carpenter. Much of his work was outside and he has skin lesions on his arms. Naomi was a ’s aide at Lakeland General Hospital.

The Mitchells moved to Palmetto on a suggestion from Sam Parolini of the Belfast Community who grew up with Buddy at Mulberry, Fla. Sam works for a construction company on Fishing Ford Road and is out of state now on a job.

Tennessee’s sunlight, however, seems less punishing than Florida’s Naomi said.

George and Doyce worked at URC for about five weeks.

Asked what she thinks when watching TV news about the nuclear power plant that broke down in Japan during the earthquake, Naomi replied, ” There are going to be a lot of people dying; not right now, but in years to come from the radiation.

“I believe a lot of people who may die… may say it’s from radiation, but the s are not going to say it’s from radiation…”

George has also had surgery to treat an aneurism in his head. There’s another that can’t be treated.

He feels as though he died, but was brought back by medical professionals before surgery for his first aneurism.

George’s face hurts almost all the time, he said. After working in a garden, he comes in and feels like he’s burned by the sun. He refuses to take pain .

“Now,” he said, “I’m tired.”

(Source: Marshalltribune.com)

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