Job Center to Open for Dayworkers’ Use

Day laborers will be able to use a job center this fall, after residents complained about large groups of day laborers congregating at various places in the city.

The City Council voted 5 to 1 to sign a $600 annual lease with the county to establish the job center at the old transfer station at 18131 Gothard St., near Talbert Avenue. Councilman Dave Sullivan voted against the project.

Last month, the council passed a law making it a misdemeanor for day laborers to solicit employment on public streets, sidewalks or alleys, or within 25 feet of a driveway accessible to the public if the owner posts a sign prohibiting it. That law takes effect Aug. 20.

This second phase of the program will allow police officers to direct the laborers to a place where they can find work, said Police Chief Ronald E. Lowenberg.

But some groups said the center will “aid and abet” illegal immigrants, who can easily produce counterfeit papers showing they are legal immigrants and residents of the city, two requirements of the plan.

“This makes as much sense as building a brothel to take prostitutes off the street or building a crack house for drug dealers,” Cerritos resident Glen Wright told the City Council on Monday.

But City Atty. Gail Hutton said that under federal law, the city is not acting as an employment agency. The obligation to verify documents lies with the person hiring the laborer, she said.

Lowenberg added that he has consulted with officials of the Immigration and Naturalization Service and was assured the project meets the agency’s requirements.

Residents who own the property where laborers now gather urged the council to approve the measure.

It could open as early as October, police officials said.