Encinitas Repeals Curbside Hiring Ban as Suit Looms

The Encinitas City Council on Wednesday voted unanimously and without comment to repeal its curbside hiring ban, two days before a hearing in U.S. District Court to consider a suit filed against the city over the ban.

The council’s action follows U.S. District Judge John Rhoades’ issuance two weeks ago of a temporary restraining order against enforcement of the ban. Migrant advocates had brought suit against the city, claiming the ban infringed on both migrant and employer rights to free speech.

The council had approved the never-enforced ban in May to curtail the street-corner gathering of migrants seeking employment.

The council also voted Wednesday to pay $18,000 for attorney’s fees incurred by the plaintiffs in the case.

In issuing the restraining order, Rhoades wrote that the ordinance would “pose unconstitutional restriction on free speech, so as to violate on its face the First Amendment and California’s liberty-of-speech clause.”

“We’re sorry that the court didn’t feel that the solution that the City Council had selected was a legally viable one,” City Atty. Roger Krauel said. “We still are faced with a very big problem, and the solution and approach that we had embarked upon is not the only solution and approach, and we are going to continue to look for solutions.”

Among the preferred solutions is more help from the federal government in enforcing migrant law. Encinitas got some of that help this week as U.S. Border Patrol agents began a monthlong surveillance of curbside hiring to see that would-be employers check a laborer’s immigration status.

“The cooperation that we’re currently getting from the Border Patrol is what we needed, and that’s all we actually ever wanted,” Mayor Pam Slater said before Wednesday’s meeting.

However, the concentrated presence of Border Patrol agents is only temporary, and the problems posed by curbside hiring may continue after the surveillance ends, officials said.

Councilwoman Gail Hano said that, after the Border Patrol finishes its monthlong stint, the city may seek help from the Sheriff’s Department.

“If it means calling them on a daily basis, that’s what we’re going to have to do,” she said.

Hano is especially frustrated with the federal government, which she says is relegating the task of dealing with the migrant population to the city.

“We might actually send (the federal government) the bills that the city of Encinitas has incurred due to this problem,” Hano said.

Some feel that the fate of Encinitas’ 8-month-old hiring hall may be tied to the demise of the curbside hiring ban.

“The City Council in general felt that the success of the hiring hall was dependent on the success of the hiring ban,” said Gloria Carranza, the city’s transient-issues coordinator.

With the termination of the ordinance, Carranza fears, the hiring hall may be next on the chopping block.

The hiring hall’s performance will be evaluated in August when the council considers its budget.

Hano believes that, although the hall has placed about 60% of the people who have come to it in search of work, it has not been effective in addressing curbside hiring.