What Do YOU Think About Orange Cracking Down on Day Laborers?

 

“I want to make it clear that we aren’t condoning the solicitation of work,” Orange Mayor Carolyn Cavecche said. “Because of federal laws, our hands are tied and we are looking to ways to solve the problems caused by these large groups of men gathering on our streets. Since our federal government can’t do their job, we at the local level are left with finding solutions to the effects of that.” 

This is what I saw in The Register this morning as I was intrigued by the headline about Orange rethinking its policy on day laborers. Apparently, some employers in Orange are complaining about day laborers loitering on their property and “scaring away customers”. Oh yes, and there’s always that looming concern over undocumented immigrants seeking day labor jobs in Orange.

OK, so what will the City of Orange do about day laborers? Orange’s city attorney has recommended that the city keep open its Resource Center (where day laborers can find jobs), but require workers using the center to have ID consistent with federal law. Also, the city attorney recommends charging employers who use the Resource Center a small fee to fund its operation, requiring both laborers and employers who allow them to congregate to obtain and display a permit, publicizing the city’s new enforcement efforts, and allowing first-time offenders to have citations dismissed if they obtain a permit at the time of their arraignments. Now is this fair?

What do YOU think about the City of Orange’s new plan to deal with day laborers? Is this a fair plan to regulate these workers? Or is this an unfair plan to drive undocumented workers further underground? Will this plan inject a little law and order into the world of day labor? Or will this just drive undocumented workers further underground and put them at risk of being exploited by abusive employers?

Go ahead and have your say.

10 Comments

  1. Is it fair to ask day laborers to register and show ID? Is it fair to require
    them to follow federal law? US citizens are required to show ID, and fill out I9 forms for employment, and follow the laws, so why shouldn’t they?

    What’s not fair, is it’s not fair to the citizens of the United States, who do abide by the law of the land. These federal laws exist to protect the citizens of the US, not to make people who break them happy and comfortable. How can you say that it’s not Fair, to ask people to identify themselves? How can you WANT millions of unidentifiable people running thru your city? If they don’t legitimately exist in some way, then they are relatively invisible and untraceable to law enforcement, etc.
    Basically, they have a juice card to do just about any crime they choose,
    and, if they are not caught in the act, they are home free. Man, if that were
    the case for everyone, we’d probably all be criminals. Do you actually
    think that these people respect any of our laws after hearing all of you
    tell them that it’s ok to break federal immigration laws? We are a joke to them, and allowing them to break the same laws that we have to follow,
    makes the US look like fools, and puts us all at risk. How are you going to feel when you or someone you love is victimized by an illegal alien?
    You will expect justice to be done, and be all over the police to do something and catch him. But he doesn’t exist, he will never be found,
    and it will be because of people just like you. Now that’s fair.

  2. I agree with the comments of Miss Hill. Illegal imigrants who are day labors should not even be in this country in the first place. If people from Mexico or any other country want to immigrate to the United States, they should do it like our relatives did. Learn the language, pay taxes and follow the legal steps to, 1– be in this country and then 2- work in this country–now that seems fair

  3. I think the broad sweeping assumptions about undocumented laborers are unfair and founded out of fear and the need to always have someone below you to pick on.

    My father was undocumented, and although not a day laborer, he ALWAYS paid his taxes, never took a tax deduction on items/monetary gifts he gave to charity (he taught us that it was wrong to take credit for charity) , and never broke any other law than being in US without papers. We never had medical insurance and he never let my mother apply for Medical for us – he paid any doctors bills in cash. He worked in construction without any benefits and finally when he couldn’t count on the income with a growing family he took out his lawn mower and started to mow our neighbors lawns. When I graduated from high school and was to move on to college he went as so far to forbid me to apply for Federal Financial Aid to fund it. I had begun working myself at age 15 and I paid my taxes (still do) and although he also paid his taxes (social security too) he was too afraid of exposure that might come of it. So I had to work 3 jobs to pay for the private college I attended – yes, it was hard but I respected my fathers wishes.

    I still however still resent the fear from “fear mongers” like Lou Dobbs, Fox, and others who should just think critically about what the reality of is like for immigrants and not just listen blindly to fact-less assumptions. Call yourself a liberal… sure when the Mexican shuts up, mows your lawn and doesn’t complain. You people have no idea what it is like to live in a culture of fear… based on stereotypes and ignorance.

  4. To Sandra,
    Your story is touching. I’m a little confused how your father paid taxes,
    if he wasn’t working legally. How do you pay social security taxes if you
    have no social security number. Or, was he using someone else’s social security number? Illegals frequently “borrow” US Citizen’s SSNs and use them for employment. The IRS and our Govt. doesn’t have a problem with it, so neither do employers. It’s OK to steal as long as “it’s to provide for their families”, which are growing exponentially. Never mind the sucker who own’s the SSN, and has to pay taxes on this money. Money that he never saw, never earned, and never spent. And can even prove it! Nobody cares. He is responsible for the taxes due.
    Maybe that’s not the case with your father, but to pay SSN taxes, or any taxes, ya need a number. Otherwise, you are working for cash, and it’s not taxed. Did I forget to mention that “borrowing someone’s SSN is a felony? And it carries a minimum 3 year prison sentence? And if you
    sign that person’s name on a document, you can tack on forgery, which
    will carry an extra year or two. But for some reason, nobody cares about
    illegals committing crimes, as long as it’s to “take care of their families”
    Here’s an idea, if you are poor and barely making it, stop pumping out
    kids…” And if our state/govt stopped forking out money for these kids,
    the so-called “love of the family” would diminish a little. That family values thing is crap anyway. Look at the big cahuna, our Mayor. Yeah,
    he’s a role model for family values. And 9 out of 10 273.5 calls involve
    illegals beating down their wives and children. I can prove that, so please don’t tempt me.

    Why didn’t your father simply apply for citizenship? I don’t know long ago this was, but you are finished with college, which means he has been here for awhile. What stopped him? Why would he not? Did he ever?
    Why?
    Also, I don’t know how many kids he had, but the average medical bill for anything other than a checkup will break most anyone down to nothing. You must not have had any major medical problems, which is fortunate.
    Or, utilized the emergency room for your medical needs. That is a great
    way to keep medical costs down. Forget the fact that it is coming out
    of OUR pockets, and causing hospitals to close all over the state.
    I am a single mom, I have no benefits from work, and I pay for my own
    healthcare …$400+/mo to Kaiser. We’ve used it once in 4 years for an
    earache, but I keep forking out the money, “just in case”.

    The illegals have a warped sense of entitlement, and that’s what enrages the people of this country. It is our govt.’s fault for entitling them
    to anything in the first place, but how logical is this attitude. Entitled to what? Why? And why are we expected to pay their way? Simply because they are here? Illegally? Nope, gotta do better than that. It’s a
    take take take, and we give give give. What are we taxpayers/citizens getting in return? It is completely one sided, and whatever the illegal happens to give back, the taxpayers don’t benefit from it. I know that
    the gangs are flourishing, the grafitti is decorative, and the drugs are abundant, and the schools are filled with non-english speaking kids.
    So, I guess that is what we get in return.

    What is most outrageous, is the attitude that we don’t belong here, and Mexicans own this land. The whole LaRaza thing is insane. They left
    Mexico to come here for a better life. But they are still 100% Viva La Mexico, and hate Americans. If it weren’t for Americans, there wouldn’t
    be a place for a better life to run to. And they talk of “taking back the US”
    which is fine. Let’s say that they have a right to it, and we decide to give
    it back. Then what? It will turn into Mexico, and be as bad as the place
    they left. If Mexico is so bad, then why do they want to take the US and turn it into Mexico. If they did manage to kill all who are not in “La Race”
    then what? Are they suddenly just going to take over huge corporations
    and carry on the global economy which makes this country the best in the world.?? Not. It will become a third world country with nothing. Just like Mexico was. If it wasn’t, then they wouldn’t have left in the first place.
    Common sense, not opinion, and has nothing to do with race.
    We don’t have any idea what it is like to live in a culture of fear… but it’s ridiculous to say that these fears are based on stereotypes and ignorance. Ha! They live in fear because they have broken the law, and are constantly worrying about being caught. Nobody wants to live in constant fear of the law. That’s why most of us don’t rob banks, and break the law. We may pull off robbing the bank and get away with it,
    but then what? We CHOOSE not to try it, because we don’t want to live
    in fear and hide form the law.
    There is nothing ignorant about having laws, and wanting them enforced.
    What is ignorant is people who think that they shouldn’t have to follow our laws, even when they come from a country who’s laws are the same,
    and more restrictive. Mexico’s immigration laws are brutal, and much more “unfair” to illegal intruders than US law. But that’s ok. They are not racist, only the US is racist if they enforce their laws. That, is IGNORANT!

  5. WOW! Didn’t take long for “Coralyn Hill” to show here true racism.
    She and her CCIR buddies are looking for a new blog to influence now that the OCRegister has cracked down on their rants in their comments.
    I direct you to OCBlog, Coralyn.

  6. CCIR? What are you talking about? I expected the typical mindless “you
    are a racist” defense from someone. Dispute anything I’ve stated with
    a valid argument. Tell me I’m wrong about the stealing of SSNs, the
    law breaking, the “La Raza” racist hate for Americans. Am I wrong about
    how much illegal immigration is costing this country. Are hospitals NOT
    closing down all over the state? These are facts, which cannot be disputed, and to come up with that same ole “racist” defense is retarded
    and getting really boring. I think as of today, my friends and I have managed to donate over $5000 to Monica Ramos. Since you probably
    don’t know who she is, she is the wife of a border patrol agent that is in
    prison for stopping an illegal alien drug smuggler, who was granted immunity for lying on the stand by GW and his little bitch Jonny Sutton.
    They are hispanic Americans, and so are millions of other legal citizens.
    A racist would not differentiate between the two. Pull your head out and
    as a citizen of the US, tell me how you can be pro-illegal immigration.
    My conclusion is, that you actually hate the US, as do most you, and would love to see us reduced to a third world Marxist society.

  7. Coralyn,

    Mexicans have come here in expanding numbers largely because NAFTA has bankrupted many in the countryside as US-owned global agribusinesses use their new access to drive down prices for produce. You will literally be unable to stop this flow. And your Republican and Democratic administrations will be uninterested in doing so. This whole debate takes place within way too narrow a frame of reference. And there is plenty of data to dispute this idea that undocumented immigrants are more criminal. Here’s an example:
    http://www.sociology.uci.edu/html/news/06Dec-RRumbaut-Immi.html

    And American citizens steal SSN numbers too. I wouldn’t be too impressed with yourself for your arguments about what you call “facts.” There are lots of facts out there. Why shouldn’t people argue that you hate America? After all, NAFTA is American policy and this President is interested in extending that model all over the hemisphere. Why shouldn’t people argue that you show a distinct lack of patriotism? Immigration is what made America… lemme guess… you think all those Irish, Italians, and Germans came here legally and told the truth to the interviewers. You think they were welcomed with open arms by the land of the free, maybe. But you’d be wrong on all counts. Maybe people should accuse you of anti-Christian sentiment for this most unchristian attitude toward the less fortunate among you. The sermon on the mount. Square that with what you write here.

    You say: “Pull your head out and as a citizen of the US, tell me how you can be pro-illegal immigration.” Here it is: the law that defines the illegality is immoral because our own government is culpable in the dispossession of these people and our own fellow citizens fund their economy on the cheap and highly exploited labor the current situation brings to this country. I am for the immigrants because I know the real reasons they come here and what my countrymen do to them when they get here. The law is what’s wrong. The law is what must be changed.

  8. So change it. You can accuse me of anti christian anything, I’m not some wack job christian. Why are we so evil to have laws against
    illegal immigration, and every other country has the same. Are you aware of Mexico’s laws? Look em up. But we don’t need to bother
    changing ours, because nobody is following them anyway. So if
    this law is no good to follow, who gets to decide which other laws are
    unfair or inconvenient. You start picking out the laws you want to follow
    and your neighbor will pick out the one’s that make him happy. Maybe
    he’ll feel that Grand theft auto should be abolished, because he is in
    great need of a car. When he decides to steal yours, or molest some
    child, because it feeeeels good, then he’s right, and you may see how
    lame you sound.

  9. An article written by some soc student at UCI. It means nothing.
    The media spews out bias junk all day, who cares. I don’t need to
    do research or ask some socialist college professor about who the
    criminals are. I know first hand what goes on in my city, and I have
    a call logs that contain every call that comes in to the police, in 7 divisions. You want me to post them? No problem. You can count for yourself how many calls that contain a suspect description contain the
    words “Male Hispanic” . They are busy guys, and the calls come non
    stop. Crime statistics can only count crimes that are recorded for public
    record. There are several murders/week, and most never even hit the
    newspaper. Open your eyes, or better yet, go to radio shack and buy
    a police scanner. Look up the trunk channels for Santa Ana and
    get a dose of reality. What most funny to me, is that the gang members
    especially, Hate Americans. When are you going to realize that that includes you. http://www.wehategringos.com (Did you catch the rally in LA?
    They Hate Americans They hate you. They are La Raza, for the race.
    Now who are the racists again?

  10. “What are we to do then? Shall we remain supine, while these daring strangers are overrunning our fertile plains, and gradually outnumbering and displacing us? Shall these incursions go on unchecked, until we shall become strangers in our own land?”
    Would Coralyn agree with this quote? California experienced similar fear-mongering over 150 years ago, only in those days, it was the fear that immigrants from America were destroying the Californio way of life. The quote is from Don Pio Pico, the last Governor of Alta California.

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