Cities Back Off Bans on Seeking Jobs in Public

Many Southern California cities that barred day laborers from seeking work on public property have been retooling their rules in the months since a federal court ruling declared such bans a free-speech violation.

Some--such as Cypress, Lawndale and Lake Forest--are halting enforcement of their ordinances, at least for now. Los Angeles County, whose ordinance was ruled unconstitutional by the federal court last September, also has stopped enforcing it. But Assistant County Counsel Lou Aguilar said it was because complaints about day laborers interfering with traffic have fallen.

Other cities, such as Huntington Beach and Costa Mesa, are tweaking their laws, passing new ordinances that allow day laborers--or jornaleros--to seek work on public walkways but not streets.

But advocates for day laborers say the changes so far are cosmetic and do nothing to ensure the rights of the workers to seek jobs.

“We think there’s still the possibility that day laborers are being singled out, possibly because of their national origin,” said Pablo Alvarado, a day laborer program coordinator for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, a plaintiff in the case challenging Los Angeles County’s ordinance.

Huntington Beach’s new ordinance, which takes effect Sept. 12, lets workers solicit jobs from sidewalks. But since many workers must talk to prospective employers who never leave their cars, they often must step onto the street to make a deal.

“To us, [the new law] doesn’t make any difference,” Alvarado said. “If you think employers are going to exit their vehicles, park in permitted areas and talk to people on sidewalks, it’s not going to happen.”

On Friday, along three blocks of Slater Avenue near Beach Boulevard in Huntington Beach, a dozen men stood at the corners, motioning to new-model cars as if they were New Yorkers hailing taxis.

“How can it be illegal to look for work?” asked Juan Alarcon, 24, who has been in the United States about 18 months.

“Even if they make new laws, they won’t stop people from looking for us,” said Pedro Rincon, 28, who often makes $7 an hour digging in gardens. “Who would do this kind of work besides us?”

The issue is surfacing elsewhere across the nation. Attorneys from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund met with day laborers Tuesday in Georgia to discuss how the Forsyth County sheriff’s office is using a little-known 1974 state law making it a misdemeanor to solicit work alongside a road.

On Aug. 29, 20 organizations that represent day laborers’ interests throughout the United States will gather via conference call to discuss how to address workers’ 1st Amendment rights as they seek work. These organizations have formed a loose coalition that recently conducted a national meeting in Los Angeles.

The group hopes to ensure that cities erase ordinances that subjected day laborers to fines up to $100 for soliciting jobs in public.

Sarah Lazarus, deputy city attorney in Huntington Beach, said hers and several other cities have modeled their new ordinances after one in Phoenix that withstood a legal challenge in 1986. That law creates alternative ways that workers can communicate with prospective employers, such as standing on the sidewalk. For that reason, an individual’s 1st Amendment rights are protected, she said.

“If you want to wait on the sidewalk and have someone legally park and come up to you, you can,” she said.

In Costa Mesa, the day laborer ordinance that advanced this week would prohibit actions that divert the attention of drivers. Examples include shouting, waving arms and rushing into the street, Assistant City Atty. Tom Wood said. The City Council is expected to take a final vote on the law in two weeks.

Huntington Beach and Costa Mesa officials do not foresee any legal challenges or problems because they say the number of day laborers on the streets has declined. Workers are going to city-sponsored halls to find jobs, they said.

Costa Mesa Councilman Chris Steel, a critic of immigrants who believes they unnecessarily impoverish his city, said the new ordinance “tightens up any challenge to our ordinance,” but that real changes would occur only if the city closes its day laborer hall.

Costa Mesa police have not determined how they will enforce the new ordinance because they have not received details about it yet, Lt. Dale Birney said.

Beyond suspending enforcement, Lake Forest City Atty. Greg Diaz and Orange City Atty. David A. De Berry said their clients have not determined how to proceed. Diaz said that since his city was not a party to the suit, there might be no action at all.

Cities such as Cypress and Lawndale also have stopped enforcing their ordinances but have yet to craft new ones, said Bill Wynder, who represents both cities.

In Agoura Hills, which banned curbside hiring in July 1991 after a worker was killed in the rush to trucks to find day jobs, city officials want to talk with the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights to discuss how to balance safety and free speech.

Agoura Hills’ ban was upheld by California courts in May 1994, and for that reason, city officials are weighing whether that decision would have greater legal weight than the more recent federal decision involving Los Angeles County.

But Mayor Ed Corridori said the city would prefer to avoid a legal tangle and has written to the coalition to arrange a meeting with its leaders.

“We certainly don’t want to violate anyone’s rights,” Corridori said. “We really want to protect our streets and our residents.”

Thomas Saenz, vice president of litigation for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said certain elements of the new ordinances could be constitutionally questionable.

MALDEF plans to monitor enforcement of those new laws and whether police officers are being too aggressive.

Since several cities in Los Angeles County have yet to change their ordinances, those likely would be looked at first.

Saenz said his organization remains concerned about the daily situation faced by day laborers everywhere.

“What we have to watch is how these changes affect them, if at all,” he said.