Federal Judge Voids Ban on Soliciting by Day Laborers

A federal judge has declared that a Los Angeles County ordinance that bars day laborers from soliciting work from passing drivers is unconstitutional.

In a 30-page opinion made public Thursday, U.S. District Judge George H. King found the law too broad, unduly vague and in violation of the 1st and 14th amendments.

About a dozen Southern California cities with similar ordinances could be affected by the ruling, according to attorneys in the case.

The 1994 law makes it a misdemeanor for any pedestrian to solicit employment, business or money from people in moving vehicles. Soliciting is defined as “any action which announces availability.”

It was enacted in response to complaints from residents near a Ladera Heights building supplies store that day laborers were running after cars in the street, urinating in public, harassing women, gambling and dealing drugs.

While acknowledging that the Board of Supervisors had valid concerns about public safety when it passed the ordinance, King said nothing prevented the county from enforcing previously existing laws against jaywalking, littering, public urination, trespassing, disorderly conduct or other crimes.

He said the ordinance’s sweeping language left it open to being easily misinterpreted. For example, he said, a day laborer pointing an available-for-work sign at other pedestrians on the sidewalk runs the risk of arrest if a passing driver happens to see the message.

In legislating a limit on day laborers’ free speech, King said, the county failed to meet its burden to show that the ordinance was narrowly tailored to serve a significant government interest and that the laborers had other ways to solicit jobs.

He took the county’s lawyer to task for suggesting during a recent court hearing that day laborers could solicit work in the parking lots of building supply marts.

“Trespass is not an ample alternative avenue to speaking in a public forum,” King wrote.

He said the fact that day laborers are compelled to take to the streets should be “a powerful reason for all parties in this case to seek a safe long-term and constitutionally valid solution” to the problem.

He permanently enjoined the county from further enforcement of the measure.

The ordinance was challenged in a civil rights lawsuit brought in 1998 by the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles and Sindicato de Tabajadores por Dia. The two groups were represented by lawyers from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

“This is great,” MALDEF attorney Thomas A. Saenz said. “This is a thoughtful and well-reasoned decision. It’s what we’ve been encouraging the county to do for the last six years, which is to enforce its existing laws to prevent those limited acts that may endanger the public welfare.”

Saenz said about a dozen Southern California cities have similar laws on the books.

“Those cities will now have to take a careful look at their ordinances to see if they need to be repealed or modified,” he said.

Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, who wrote the ordinance, could not be reached for comment Thursday.

According to unofficial estimates, about 20,000 day laborers, or jornaleros, ply street corners throughout Los Angeles County on any given day, providing a steady source of cheap labor for contractors and homeowners.

In Los Angeles, which has no law like the county’s, several hiring halls have been established for day laborers. Traffic congestion and minor offenses have abated in those neighborhoods.