The Economic Benefits of Day Laborers
* In light of the current controversy over immigration, I was astounded at the editorial titled “Day Laborers Get a Place to Congregate” (May 28). The editorial explained how Huntington Beach, following the lead of other Orange County cities, was establishing a job center for day laborers.
What perplexed me was that the writer at no time indicated who these day laborers were.
It appears that The Times and many of our politicians, including Gov. Wilson, are unwilling to face the fact that immigrants make a significant contribution to the underground economy of California.
The so-called “day laborers” are Hispanic immigrants, most of them illegal, who are willing to work for a day or more at minimum wages for cash.
Who employs them? Contractors, landscapers, movers, people making home improvements. Interestingly enough, cities realizing this reality are providing safe, convenient and unobtrusive places for them to solicit jobs.
The day laborers congregating on the corner is the tip of the iceberg of the thousands of undocumented or falsely documented people in California who do the most menial jobs at minimum wages.
The politicians such as Wilson know this. They don’t tell you that if all illegals were sent home, the cost of domestic service, construction, restaurant meals, hotel charges and numerous other products and services would dramatically increase.
DONALD R. SHERINIAN
Laguna Hills