Day Labor Worker Centers Challenged

In Herndon, Virginia, the Town Council in August approved plans for a day laborer hiring site. A coalition of nonprofit and community groups called Project Hope and Harmony has applied for a grant from Fairfax County to cover start-up costs. After the vote, Judicial Watch sued Herndon and the County, arguing that federal law prohibits employers from hiring the workers and that public money cannot be spent on undocumented immigration. In Herndon, a group calling itself the Herndon Minutemen plans to begin patrolling day laborer hiring spots. The will snap photos of workers and employers who pick them up and send the information to immigration officials.Under pressure from anti-immigrant forces, leaders in Hoover, Alabama, shut down a multicultural resource center in August that was housed in a municipal building and served as a day labor hring hall. This summer, Arizona passed a law banning the building or maintaining of centers that facilitate the hiring of undocumented immigrants.The Center for the Study of Urban Poverty at UCLA estimates that there are more than 100,000 day laborers across the country.Source: Emily Bazar, USA Today, Oct. 24, 2005bh