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Ole Glory 02-02-2010 03:29 PM

Day Laborers Sue
 
LA Times

AMY TAXIN

Associated Press Writer

February 2, 2010 | 4:06 p.m.

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — Day laborers sued a Southern California city on Tuesday, claiming a ban on seeking work on the street violates their civil rights.

The lawsuit filed against Costa Mesa in U.S. District Court comes after police dressed in plainclothes posed as employers in September and arrested a dozen workers, sparking the ire of immigrant rights groups.

It's the latest in a series of lawsuits filed by day labor advocates against California cities that limit workers' right to solicit employment on street corners. Advocates said laborers have a constitutional right to free speech and cities can't bar them from seeking employment and simultaneously let activists wave signs against the Iraq war.

"Our core constitutional principles of equality and freedom demand that a day laborer enjoy the same right to free expression as a political activist or a member of a charitable group," Belinda Escobosa Helzer, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, told reporters at a press conference Tuesday.

The city located 35 miles southeast of Los Angeles passed the ordinance banning work solicitation in 2005. Costa Mesa also shut down a labor center where workers previously congregated and stepped up immigration enforcement by partnering with federal agents.

Costa Mesa started enforcing the ordinance after residents complained about numerous people loitering and making noise, said Mayor Allan Mansoor. Most people were later found to have been in the country illegally, he said.

"I believe people have the right to express their free speech, but we also have to maintain order in the community," Mansoor said. "There are options for people to solicit work. I encourage people to do that through a legal means."

It is the eighth federal lawsuit filed in California by the ACLU and Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund over such ordinances in the last 12 years, Escobosa Helzer said. The previous lawsuits have settled or been won by workers, she said. One was appealed and is pending a ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The lawsuit comes as day labor advocates said they have seen more American citizens lining up at labor centers around the country because of the recession. Workers in Costa Mesa said they had yet to see Americans join them, but labor centers elsewhere in Southern California have.

"It is a rogue city in terms of protecting civil rights," said Pablo Alvarado, executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, which is also representing the workers.

On Tuesday, two dozen workers and their supporters marched in Costa Mesa to voice their opposition to the ordinance.

"They don't want us to be on the corner and we just want to work to sustain our families, and ourselves," said Jose Anaya, a Mexican immigrant who has sought work as a day laborer in Costa Mesa for the last three years.

Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

MowMyOwn 02-02-2010 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ole Glory (Post 4773)
LA Times

AMY TAXIN

Associated Press Writer

February 2, 2010 | 4:06 p.m.

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — Day laborers sued a Southern California city on Tuesday, claiming a ban on seeking work on the street violates their civil rights.

So I guess hookers can join in on this suit?

ilbegone 02-02-2010 05:00 PM

Quote:

"Our core constitutional principles of equality and freedom demand that a day laborer enjoy the same right to free expression as a political activist or a member of a charitable group," Belinda Escobosa Helzer, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, told reporters at a press conference Tuesday.
Where are these day laborer's individual places of business? Where are the individual places of business for the employers who hire them? Where are all the W4 forms and I-9s the employers are legally required to maintain for every employee hired?

This is not a group of people expressing political belief on the corner, for which it may be necessary to get a permit, but people engaged in commercial activity. Local governments have the right to regulate commercial activity, such as by zoning. And apparently, the streets in Costa Mesa are not zoned for day labor solicitation of employment nor for employers to seek labor.

Nor do the streets seem to be zoned for nor the proper permits obtained for loitering, noise making, or being in the country illegally.

Not a one of those day laborers or their employers have a mailbox on that figurative corner, nor is that figurative corner a legal place of business.

Jeanfromfillmore 02-02-2010 05:30 PM

"They don't want us to be on the corner and we just want to work to sustain our families, and ourselves," said Jose Anaya, a Mexican immigrant who has sought work as a day laborer in Costa Mesa for the last three years.Quote

I am so tired of hearing 'We just want to feed/help/sustain our families' when they pop out another kid every year and then use the excuse they have to fed them, they use them as propaganda tools and we're suppose to feel sorry for them.

Commander Bunny 02-02-2010 06:44 PM

I've parked My truck with chainsaws, gardening tools, etc. and had a bussiness lic. and liability insurance, and would park very close to where the DL's would gather in Sonoma Co, trying to get work.

And the Police would only hassle Me, as They told Me "it's illegal to solicit work from a street corner in Our City"...

Go figure.

ilbegone 02-02-2010 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Commander Bunny (Post 4781)
I've parked My truck with chainsaws, gardening tools, etc. and had a bussiness lic. and liability insurance, and would park very close to where the DL's would gather in Sonoma Co, trying to get work.

And the Police would only hassle Me, as They told Me "it's illegal to solicit work from a street corner in Our City"...

Go figure.

Double standard. If there were money to legaly pursue it, would there be room for suit concerning discrimination, equal protection, or a bunch of other legal situations I don't know the names for?

Ole Glory 02-04-2010 11:03 AM

"claiming a ban on seeking work on the street violates their civil rights."

Civil Rights? What Civil Rights, they are illegal they have no rights in this Country, they are Criminals.:mad:

DerailAmnesty.com 02-04-2010 08:54 PM

Given the existing case law that exists on this issue, the day laborers are likely to win.

Ayatollahgondola 02-04-2010 10:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DerailAmnesty.com (Post 4854)
Given the existing case law that exists on this issue, the day laborers are likely to win.

I wrote a code that would work against the day laborers, but it was on the old forum, and Chelena's henchmen erased it. There is a way to do it, and I know it can work.

ilbegone 02-06-2010 07:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ayatollahgondola (Post 4859)
I wrote a code that would work against the day laborers, but it was on the old forum, and Chelena's henchmen erased it. There is a way to do it, and I know it can work.

Can you reconstruct and repost?


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