Supervisors Ban Curbside Job Solicitation : Work: The county’s action, which goes into effect in July, is seen as a severe blow to day laborers. But Garcetti says he will not prosecute the cases.

In a resounding defeat for day laborers and their representatives, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a law that criminalizes curbside job solicitation in unincorporated areas.

Passage of the ordinance was a major victory for homeowners and anti-immigrant groups, who failed to muster support for a similar proposal in March.

The new ordinance, which goes into effect in July, makes curbside job-seeking a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and/or a $1,000 fine. It is modeled after an Agoura Hills law that survived a crucial legal challenge last month by the American Civil Liberties Union and a coalition of immigrants rights groups.

Buoyed by the success of the Agoura Hills law, Supervisor Mike Antonovich reintroduced a measure originally proposed by Chairwoman Yvonne Brathwaite Burke. It was approved 3 to 1, with Supervisor Gloria Molina opposed. Supervisor Ed Edelman was absent.

However, the county’s top prosecutor has said he will not enforce the law, although he will continue to prosecute day laborers who violate existing laws, such as urinating in public.

“We have limited resources,” Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti said. “Not only that, but it would be difficult for me to prosecute someone for simply trying to get a job.”

But supporters said that as long as sheriff’s deputies ticket or arrest the job-seekers, the ordinance would be effective.

The two-hour hearing was marked by passionate attacks on and defenses of the measure, which will affect the 10% of county residents who live in unincorporated areas, including Ladera Heights, East Los Angeles and portions of the San Gabriel, Santa Clarita, Antelope and San Fernando valleys. But the measure’s symbolic impact will be far more widespread.

“This empowers the community to protect itself and its public rights of way,” Antonovich said. “And it eliminates the incentive for people to break the law by coming to this country for work.”

But Molina, who suggested that the county follow the example of the city of Los Angeles and set up hiring sites for day laborers, excoriated the board for making what she characterized as a politically expedient decision.

“This is a disgraceful day for the Board of Supervisors and a shameful act,” Molina said. “This ordinance will be used against people--especially people of color.”

Homeowners from the Ladera Heights neighborhood north of Inglewood said the measure is necessary to rid their neighborhood of unsightly throngs of day laborers. They reiterated that their opposition had nothing to do with the fact that many of the job-seekers are Latino immigrants.

But their voices were drowned out by representatives of several anti-immigrant groups, who turned out to champion the law in the hopes that it will discourage illegal immigration.

“If the federal government won’t do its jobs and control its borders, we’ll have to do it on the local level with laws like this,” said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

Opponents of the measure said it would drive job-seekers deeper into poverty.

“I wish you wouldn’t treat us like criminals when we are only looking for work to feed our families,” said Juan Carlos Ruiz, a day laborer who spoke on behalf of a dozen other men who attended the hearing at the County Hall of Administration. “If you believe in God, why are you doing something against humanity?”

The coalition that challenged the Agoura Hills ordinance said it may mount a legal challenge against the new county law, arguing that it would violate speech, assembly and travel rights guaranteed in the state and federal constitutions.

But Ramona Ripston, executive director of the ACLU of Southern California, said the chances of success are slim.

“The loss in Agoura Hills was a severe one,” Ripston said. The courts are clearly not very hospitable places when it comes to protecting civil liberties and civil rights, she added.

In April, the 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled that Agoura Hills has the right to regulate the activity of day laborers as it relates to local traffic safety standards. The city blamed a day laborer’s death on the traffic disruption caused by men rushing up to vehicles and contended that the law was necessary to prevent traffic accidents. The measure passed by the board lays out the same rationale.

The board considered the same ordinance in March, but adopted a much narrower measure that allowed day laborers to continue soliciting work everywhere but in commercial parking lots where owners post signs prohibiting the practice.

The action came after Burke agreed to water down her proposal in response to objections by immigrant rights advocates. At the time, Burke also expressed concern about the legality of the Agoura Hills measure. The appellate court decision that upheld that ordinance was pending at that time.

But Burke, who cast the swing vote Tuesday, said she changed her mind and became an advocate of the tougher measure because her constituents continue to complain about the day laborer problem.