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Herndon Takes Action On Day Laborer Site
By Greg L | 16 August 2007 | Fairfax County, Illegal Aliens | 11 Comments
Guest post by Bob Rudine, Herndon
The Herndon Town Council decided yesterday that the Herndon Official Day Labor Site will have to check immigration status of the laborers who use the site. In a 6 to 1 vote after two evenings of citizen comment a resolution was passed which sets the stage for a new operator of the site.
The current operator is Project Hope and Harmony (PH&H) aka Reston Interfaith, with funding provided by Fairfax county and a site provided by the Town of Herndon. Herndon also has an anti-solicitation ordinance which prohibits employers from hiring Day Laborers anywhere else within the town. This ordinance has been upheld in a court challenge based on the existence of the formal Day labor site.
The Town Council is seeking to find a site operator who will validate the legal status of the Day Laborers right to work within the United States. Several request for proposals have gone out and currently have one bidder on the contract. Due to the length of time it is taking to find a qualified operator, the town had to consider an extension for PH&H to operate the site until a new operator who will verify legal status can take over.
The resolution to extend the special exception has two sets of conditions governing the operation of the site. The first (Operator A) is for the continued use by PH&H until a new operator can take over. The second (Operator B) defines the conditions for the new operator. Several changes were requested by PH&H and were incorporated the special exception including extended hours and an expansion in the number of Day Laborers the site is allow to have on site.
A third option is available to the council which would eliminate the site all together if the extension is not approved. This option is not being considered since the anti-solicitation would be overturned allowing the Day Laborers to return to the informal day labor sites within the Town.
Several amendments were offered during the council deliberations. Two amendments were discussed which would allow charitable donations to be distributed at the site for PH&H. The first would allow all charitable donations to be distributed at the site. The second would allow for food donations only to be distributed. Both amendments failed.
Harlon Reece, the only current Councilmen who voted to establish the current Day Labor site offered an amendment to delete all reference to Operator B from the resolution. This would, in effect, eliminate the immigration status checking altogether and allow the site to operate unchanged in its current configuration. His amendment did not receive a Second vote required to proceed and died.
In passing the resolution the Council explained that their oath of office required them to uphold the law and that the law could not be applied selectively. The Mayor Said that the Town would do anything necessary to insure the citizens that the Day Laborers would not return to the streets of Herndon. Reston interfaith was thanked for their service to the community and promised to work with them in their other projects within the community.
Last night, during the public testimony 50 people spoke on the Special Exception during the first night of testimony. I think it fair to say that everyone there believed that the challenges faced by the Town are caused by the absolute failure of the Federal Government to enforce immigration law. The issue of what the Town can and cannot do is still being debated.
The supporters of the current site claim that the current site operator provides the best solution for the Town by removing the Day Laborers from the streets of Herndon. They are still gathering all around town, and have been since the formal site opened, due to a lack of employers using the formal site. Photos of the 7-11 at Elden and Alabama and other informal sites in Northern Virginia were shown to support their claim. Photos were shown which clearly show Day Laborers congregating in and around the former informal site. The reality is that street solicitation was curtailed by vigorous enforcement by the Herndon Police of the anti-solicitation law after it was upheld in court.
The supporters of Operator B with legal status checking of Day Laborers support the notion that current site supports illegal aliens and the Town would be better off without the site. The Town Council’s approach was supported by most of these speakers, recognizing the importance of the anti-solicitation enforcement program to the Town. Clearly they believe that this is the best compromise available at this time. One speaker requested that the Town consider adoption of an alternative version of the anti-solicitation law used by some localities which does not require a formal site in order to withstand legal challenge. The notion that the Day Labor is a temporary solution was mentioned by several of the speakers including one recommendation to eliminate the annual renewal provisions in the special exception. Residents, from the adjacent county of Loudoun, expressed their concerns regarding the possibility of Day Laborers establishing an informal site just inside the county if this plan were adopted.
Several residents requested that the council not renew the extension which would close the site outright.
Law suits against the town were expressed or implied by some of the speakers against the anti-solicitation ordinance and Operator B if the current plans were implemented.
Other issues discussed by the speakers included the use of the site as a location to distribute charitable contributions of food and clothes from the site which is the current practice. Crime statics were presented showing the percentage of crimes committed by Hispanics was increasing when compared with non-Hispanics. Since the Police do not collect data regarding legal status of criminals, the extent and impact of illegal aliens on crime is still subject to some conjecture and debate. Overcrowded housing was also mentioned by some speakers even though the extension does not address this issue specifically.
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11 Comments
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Bob-
Keep up the good work you all are doing in Herndon!
I’m all for the day labor sites as long as they are reserved for legal citizens. Put up day labor sites that require a valid ID then strictly enforce solicitation ordinances. Makes good sense.
Way to go Herndon! Keep up the good work!
From today’s “Washington Times”: Virginia Minuteman Director George Taplin said Tuesday night that the day-laborer center has led to increased crime in Herndon — contrary to promises from center supporters during public hearings before it opened in December 2005.
“The vast majority of day laborers in Herndon are Hispanic and the vast majority of day laborers in Herndon are illegal aliens,” Mr. Taplin said. “Since the vast majority of Herndon’s legal Hispanic community are law-abiding, family-oriented people, the sharp increase in crime among Hispanics in Herndon is primarily due to the illegal aliens moving here, attracted by the day-labor site.”
It would be interesting to see how the support goes if the illegals ARE removed from the site.
Hopefully they won’t show up at the site, knowing they’ll have to prove legal status.
…but there’s still a question lingering in my mind….What will constitute acceptable proof of legal status?
Proving legal status is extremely easy because the fraudulent documents are so well done now. One has to know what to look for and even then it is tough. About the only way to really catch someone is to have a conversation about when they arrived in this country and match that date with the dates on their papers - problem is, it is illegal for a potential employer to have that conversation and ask someone when they came to the U.S. That’s one of the problems that needs to be addressed by our Congress.
Here is the core issue:
The courts have verified that Herndon must provide a day worker hiring site so that day workers can exercise their free speech rights and Herndon can enforce its anti-solicitation law.
The question Herndon will be dealing with in the near-term is: Is Herndon required to provide a day worker hiring site for illegal aliens in order to enforce an anti-solicitation law?
The broader questions arre:
1. Is any municipality required to provide services to illegal aliens in order to protect the health, safety and welfare of citizens?
2. Do illegal aliens have Constitutionally-guaranteed rights and, if they do, what are they?
3. Are there any Constitutionally-guaranteed benefits for citizens that are not afforded to illegal aliens?
Herndon, when you start verifying ID’s, forget the “green card”…the illegals get counterfeit “green cards” that look very authentic. Concentrate on the Social Security Card/number…that’s “the proof of the puddin”. When an employer calls SS to verify valididty of SSN, they must inform you if the SSN is fake or stolen. If its either, you KNOW illegality.
Bob Rudine’s statement that Day Laborers are gathering all around town is FALSE. Every so often I take an early morning drive down Elden St. I’ve seen a few men in Kohl’s parking lot now and then but to say that they are back like before is NOT TRUE. - Taplin, Campenni, and Johnson, minutemen all, had a lot of numbers to present as to crimes; well organized presentation, indeed. - Vice Mayor Husch’s desire to keep the County out of Herndon has succeeded. As a consequence, the Mayor has more or less been forced to ask the County to continue to find PH&H. No news yet.
Sorry, the third MinMan is JONES, not Johnson.