Orange Votes to Bar Day Laborers From Soliciting Work on Streets

The Orange City Council voted Tuesday night to prohibit day laborers from soliciting work on city streets and in parking lots, joining a growing list of local communities taking steps to thin the crowds of men who gather each morning in search of work.

“This final action by the council is the conclusion . . . of an issue that has become symbolic of the nation’s immigration policies” and the right of people to live peacefully in their neighborhoods, Mayor Don E. Smith said during Tuesday night’s meeting.

The council’s 5-0 decision on two related measures is aimed primarily at laborers who come to the United States from Mexico, many illegally, and seek temporary work. Hundreds of workers, most of them young men, gather along East Chapman Avenue and surrounding streets each morning.

In the meantime, council members said the city is negotiating to establish a hiring hall for documented dayworkers. The hall, on a lot owned by a railroad company, will only be open to legal residents. No opening date has been set.

Dozens of the day laborers, as well as Orange County Latino leaders, attended the standing-room-only meeting Tuesday night.

“We believe it will be struck down in the courts, and we believe that it is xenophobic,” said Amin David, president of the Orange County chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens.

Another who opposed the city’s ban, Victor Valenzuela, said he thinks it will create added strains in the workplace, which depends on cheap immigrant labor.

“I think it’s fantasy to assume that if you pass these ordinances the problems will be solved,” said Valenzuela, who is studying for his master’s degree in sociology and public administration.

The two ordinances approved by the council both carry maximum penalties of a $500 fine and a six-month jail sentence.

One law makes it illegal for dayworkers to solicit employment between 6 a.m. and noon on public streets in the eastern part of the city, while the other prohibits them from seeking work in privately owned parking lots once owners post signs warning about the new law.

Both laws will take effect Oct. 19.

“The real question is whether the city is in charge of itself or if the events of the outside world are in charge of the city,” said Alan Lurya, a private citizen who spoke in favor of the two ordinances.

But Dan Vaughan, 42, who described himself as a building inspector, defended the workers. “These men are simply looking for jobs the best way they know how,” he said.

Some who spoke against the ordinance said they feared the city would never follow through on the job center.

“My fear is that the center will never be established once this ordinance is passed,” said Teresa Smith of Orange, who spoke against the ordinances. “Do what is fair, what is humane, what is non-discriminatory toward the poor.”

Costa Mesa adopted similar laws earlier this year, with an added provision that makes the mere intent to solicit work illegal in some areas of the city. The law prompted a lawsuit against the city by the American Civil Liberties Union. An Orange County Superior Court judge last week refused to grant a temporary restraining order that would have kept the city from enforcing the law pending a formal hearing.

Costa Mesa also has established a hiring hall for dayworkers who reside in the country legally. Laguna Beach has set up a central hiring area, but does not screen workers for residency papers. Dana Point, meanwhile, has created a telephone job bank for casual laborers.