Day Laborers Win Big in Court (and why we all won)

Amy Taylor

Day Laborers Win Big in Court (and why we all won)

Two days ago a group of Hispanic day laborers in Westchester won a big victory when a federal judge found that the village of Mamaroneck had discriminated against them based on race. The court found that the village's actions, including fining contractors attempting to hire day laborers, closing a hiring site and increasing police patrols in an area where they congregated, were motivated, at least in part, by race.

This is a big win for immigrant workers in a town where a recently-ousted town trustee once referred to immigrants as "locusts" before he was voted out of office. The town trustee I am referring to is Joseph Angilletta who was quoted in a newspaper as saying, "These are not residents of the village. They are locusts. They are takers. They come in here and take, and they won't ever give back to the community."

Mr. Angilletta could not be more wrong. Day laborers are anything but "takers", working long hours to mow our lawns, fix our roofs and build our houses for meager wages - all to stay afloat economically and perhaps support family back home. They regularly are forced to accept wages far below the going rate and accept working conditions far more dangerous than the law allows. In the twelve months that ended on September 30, 29 construction workers died in work-related accidents. Of those, 21 involved workers who were immigrants or had limited English proficiency.

Not only to day laborers risk their lives for their work, but immigrant workers are crucial to our economy. Immigrant workers, many of whom pay taxes and pay into social security (which they will never receive back), give much more to our economy than they take back in social services. The discriminatory actions of the town of Mamaroneck are upsetting not only because of the harassing treatment received by the laborers - but because of the evidence that localities like Mamaroneck are entirely blind to the value of their immigrant residents.

The day laborers in Mamaroneck went to court to seek an injunction to stop the harassing actions of the town police. They cited incidences of police officers using threatening language and gestures when approaching the laborers. The town, in response, claimed that their actions were a crackdown on "quality of life" issues. They claimed that the hiring site caused an increase in public urination and encouraged prostitution, drug dealing and public intoxication. However, as expected, the town could not back up any of these claims with police records at trial and they were found to be without merit.

There is no excuse for such baseless accusations EXCEPT racism. The town claimed that the day laborers were not treated any differently than people of other races. The village said they were just enforcing the law and conducting regular policing activities. Judge Colleen McMahon of the Southern District, however, disagreed. And she disagreed for 70 pages making 171 findings of fact, where she highlighted the discriminatory treatment received by the day laborers.

Mamaroneck, interestingly, has a history of being very tolerant to day laborers, prior to the incidences described in court -- primarily white day laborers.

The Brian Lehrer show on WNYC addressed this issue yesterday. One caller who was opposed to the workers being able to congregate in the park argued that she too is unemployed and is not permitted to congregate. Many of the residents who are upset about the ruling cannot quite verbalize what it is that bothers them -- but the ruling makes it clear.

Individuals have the right, under the First Amendment to stand in public places and make known their availability for employment. The town of Mamaroneck got caught up in the anti-immigrant fervor that has swept the country recently and was rightfully prohibited from continuing the unfair and racist treatment. Mamaroneck should recognize that the individuals they are targeting are contributing to our economy in a vital way and are filling an important sector of our labor market. The illegal actions of the town are not only shameful, but harmful to everyone.