Workers Desperately Seek Jobs . . . . . . Nearby Business Owners Want Them Moved : At Sidewalk Hiring Hall, It’s Laborers vs. Establishment

Friday wasn’t a good day for Erimeo Diaz. He was one of a hundred Mexican men who came to the corner of Chapman Avenue and Hewes Street in Orange and jostled his way onto a little piece of the crowded sidewalk at the informal labor hall there.

Perched on the curb, Diaz spent the morning yelling to potential employers slowly driving by in pickup trucks.

‘I’m Good . . . Please, Mister’

“Take me. Hire me,” he begged desperately with a thick accent. When they wouldn’t notice him, he took off his cap and waved it. When they did, he started advertising, “I’m good. I work hard. I’m cheap. Please, mister.”

But the day labor business was slow Friday. No doors opened for Diaz.

“I only worked two days this week and made about $60,” Diaz lamented in Spanish. “Not only do I have bills to pay, but I’ve got eight children at home.”

Other men grumbled about new no-stopping signs, posted Thursday under an ordinance passed by the City Council this week.

The signs are the latest effort to control what police, residents and city officials say is a problem with no immediate solution. The men, many of whom are in the United States illegally, congregate in front of a doughnut shop to compete for coveted jobs, most of which last only a day. But business owners at the corner say the laborers hurt their businesses by scaring off customers, blocking driveways and creating a nuisance.

The men represent a source of cheap labor. Indeed, demographers and immigration experts contend that growth of the undocumented worker population is directly linked to the county’s growing job market. Each new commercial building or subdivision acts as a beacon, attracting undocumented workers who are hired for construction labor, then for landscaping, then for janitorial work.

Although a task force including city officials, businessmen, members of the clergy and residents was formed to study the problem, U.S. Border Patrol officers were called late last year to sweep the corner and remove the men after an attempt to relocate them failed.

Since then, suggestions to move them to a library, a park, a community center and now a church have met with little success.

Last month, the City Council enacted an ordinance permitting citizens to warn “trespassers,” then arrest them 24 hours later. But immigrant rights’ attorneys and Chicano activists want to legally challenge the law, which they consider unconstitutional and discriminatory against Latinos.

“We’re trying to correct the problem and we’re taking an enforcement look both at the workers and the employers,” Orange Police Chief Wayne Streed said. “The workers have made a traffic problem out there, stopping trucks and running across the street.”

Streed said traffic officers cited one driver Friday for stopping in the no-stopping zone. The man had driven about 60 miles from Vista to look for workers.

Police so far have showed restraint, Streed said, a position that has brought praise from businessmen and many residents. No physical arrests have taken place, he added.

“Look, we know it’s a sad situation,” said Reed Williams, who operates a barber shop in a shopping mall across from Hewes Street. “But there’s a very simple solution: If they’re illegal, get ‘em the hell out of here. If they’re legal, then leave them alone.”

Although it’s a harsh solution, Williams said, business has slackened in the mall, and he and other shop owners point to the day laborers as a contributing cause.

‘Killing’ Business

“They surround that doughnut shop over there. I feel sorry for the laborers, but I feel more sorry for the owner of that shop. They’re killing (his business).”

A week ago, Williams and other businessmen hired a security guard to prevent laborers and employers from using the parking lot to conduct business.

At times, merchants and police have counted as many as 250 to 300 men congregated near the doughnut shop, with dozens spilling over into the mall’s parking lot.

“It got really bad for me,” said Cecil Pearson, owner of a lawn mower shop, “when my customers starting telling me that it’s getting to the point where they don’t want to come here anymore.”

Many merchants and residents also are fearful that violence could erupt. When the men compete for jobs, they jostle each other, which sometimes prompts heated arguments. When they’re not working, some drink beer and kill time. Some merchants have blamed broken windows, excessive trash and traffic problems on the men.

Emotions run high on both sides. Chief Streed said that police are attempting to remain neutral, “so that it doesn’t look like we’re being repressive to one and not the other.”

Community activists and some residents contend, however, that the merchants and the city are overreacting.

Jaime Vega, an Orange resident who helped form a support group, Los Amigos de Orange, said he fought the city’s new trespassing ordinance because it discriminates against Latinos.

Gilbert Paul Carrasco, directing attorney for the National Center for Immigrants’ Rights in Los Angeles, contends that the ordinance had constitutional “weaknesses” and is vague.

“It does not sufficiently outline what constitutes criminal trespass. Furthermore, there are equal protection problems,” Carrasco said.

“And although the ordinance has a specific disclaimer, I think it’s fairly clear that it is being enforced in this particular instance on Hewes and Chapman and was enacted for the purpose of arresting those individuals (who seek work).”

The dilemma is attracting widespread attention. How Orange handles its situation may affect how other cities approach the same issue.

“It isn’t going to be wished away,” said Gary Granville, an aide to county Supervisor Ralph Clark, in whose district the street corner lies. He added:

“Obviously, immigration (authorities are) not going to handle it, and the ordinance by itself is not going to rectify it. A lot of people believe that these people are no different than the Italian immigrants and Irish immigrants when they first came to the United States. They want to work.”

Granville said Clark recently sent out a questionnaire, asking residents in his district if they favor establishing storefront labor centers.

About 63% said “Yes,” and 37% said “No.” But what disturbed Granville, he said, were some questionnaires on which residents expressed opinions. One wrote across the top: “You should put these people in boxes and ship them back to Mexico.”

The issue, all parties agree, is misunderstood and emotional. From Granville’s perspective, it is also politically unpopular.

During visits with laborers, Granville said, he has learned that the men aren’t seeking handouts. “They say, ‘give me work.’ ”

“It seems that the best solution for all concerned is to recognize it as a problem and treat it as such. Possibly a day labor hiring hall that charges a fee to the employees and employers could work,” Granville said.

Others suggested limiting the hours during which the laborers seek work.

“If I knew a solution, I would have given it to everybody and end all this dissent,” said Margaret Reister, El Modena Community Center director, referring to a division among residents about where to relocate the men.

Since Thursday, the men have been asked to move to La Purisima Catholic Church, about three blocks away.

However, the laborers didn’t budge. They argued that many employers know that the laborers gather at the corner and will continue to stop there, not at the church, where the men are allowed to stand only between 6 and 7:45 a.m. “It’s too short a time for us. We’ll miss a chance to get a job if we’re over there,” one laborer said.

“I don’t think they (the men) realize the whole thing and the significance of the no-parking signs,” said Sister Elvira Rios from La Purisima. “They don’t realize the employers are not going to go there because they will be cited.

“As long as there’s a need, those men will be out there looking for work. If the community didn’t need them, nobody would come for them.”

In the meantime, Williams pointed out that something has to be done soon. “What’s going to happen when harvest season comes in the spring?” he said.