Council Delays Vote on Day Laborers : Illegals in Glendale Rounded Up

Federal immigration officers rounded up a dozen illegal aliens in Glendale on Wednesday, one day after the Glendale City Council postponed its vote on an ordinance that would prohibit day laborers from congregating on city sidewalks.

Opposition from civil rights activists and laborers convinced the City Council to put off its decision until the ordinance could be studied further.

Some laborers who continued waiting for work at the site of the raid Wednesday speculated that the immigration sweep was prompted by the council’s discussion of the issue Tuesday afternoon.

“Yesterday they were discussing the deal here and that’s why they came,” said painter Alfredo Mayen, 25, of Glendale.

But John Brechtel, assistant district director for investigations for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in Los Angeles, said the timing of the 8:30 a.m. raid was merely “coincidence.”

“We’ve identified 13 locations through Los Angeles and Orange counties, and this just happens to be one of them,” Brechtel said.

Two weeks ago, the INS announced a crackdown on the hiring of undocumented workers at labor-gathering spots throughout Southern California. INS officials warned that employers will face stiff fines and confiscation of their vehicles if they are found transporting and hiring illegal aliens.

All Job Seekers

The Glendale proposal, however, would apply not only to illegal aliens but to all other job seekers. The ordinance would make it illegal for workers to stand on city streets and sidewalks seeking work and for employers to hire them.

After a nearly two-hour hearing Tuesday afternoon, Glendale City Council members agreed to meet during the next 60 days with civil rights leaders and residents in an effort to study the problem and seek an alternate solution.

But after the hearing, Mayor Carl W. Raggio expressed doubts about whether an adequate alternative can be reached.

“As far as I’m concerned, it’s up to the people who are interested to make contact with the city,” Raggio said. “I have some reservations about their ability to come back with answers.”

In response to merchants’ complaints, the council asked its staff several months ago to draw up the ordinance. When it was introduced last week, only one person opposed it.

On Tuesday, however, when the council was expected to approve it, dozens of residents, Los Angeles-based civil rights activists and 25 laborers packed the meeting. Six activists and residents protested that the law would infringe upon the basic rights of citizens.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate for the city of Glendale to turn job-seekers into criminals,” said Anne Kamsvaag, Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights of Los Angeles.

‘Fundamental Rights’

“The ordinance seeks to regulate fundamental rights of free speech and organization,” said Linton Joaquin, attorney and director of the Central American Refugee Center in Los Angeles. “I think the ordinance is overly broad and . . . sends the wrong message to people who are trying to earn a decent living, who are trying to support themselves.”

The proposal, which is similar to ordinances passed in Lawndale and Phoenix, marks Glendale’s most far-reaching attempt to rid the city of day laborers who congregate on sidewalks.

Glendale City Manager David H. Ramsay told council members Tuesday that the ordinance is needed to alleviate traffic congestion and litter. Business owners have complained that laborers, who mostly gather around a paint shop and a 7-Eleven store on the corner of Jackson Street and Broadway, disrupt their businesses and harass women.

Despite the council’s decision to postpone a vote on the ordinance, two members reacted to suggestions by some speakers that the proposal discriminates against Latinos searching for work.

“Uttering filthy remarks at females is not seeking employment. Urinating on my car . . . is not seeking employment,” snapped Councilwoman Ginger Bremberg.

“This is not a racial issue,” Councilman Larry Zarian said. “This is an issue that deals with cleanliness and order in the city.”

Only two residents spoke in favor of the proposal.

Attorney Nina Solana Brown, who owns a building on Broadway, complained that the laborers sit on a fence surrounding the parking lot of her building and crush newly planted flowers. She was one of two residents who said she favored the ordinance.

“And they are unsightly,” she told the council. “They are unbathed and when I get there at 7 a.m. they haven’t combed their hair and they are walking down the street tucking in their shirts.”

Concern for City’s Image

Resident George Palcolt said he feared the laborers would harm the city’s image.

“I don’t want to see our city being turned into a barrio, which is exactly what’s happening down there,” he told the council. “We’re giving the best state in the union away. Please don’t give our city away.”

But other residents disagreed with the negative characterization of the workers.

“I passed by the workers many times . . . but I have never, ever been harassed at that corner,” said resident Diane Jacoby. “I had one interaction with a gentleman there when I dropped $20 and did not know it as I struggled with my child, and he caught up with me and returned the $20, which I’m sure was a lot to him.”