Illegals back to begging for work at 7-Eleven
The city of Herndon, Virginia, has a problem that they thought they'd solved.
Two years ago, the residents of this northern Virginia town complained about the influx of day laborers on their streetcorners and in their yards. The complaints ranged from loitering to public defecation and urination in people's yards. These laborers, mostly poor illegal immigrants, were especially thick around a particular 7-Eleven parking lot, where they would wait for employers to solicit them for work. (The local economy has seen a boom of construction due to the town's proximity to Dulles International Airport and Washington DC. Fairfax County is one of the most populous and prosperous regions of the country.)
So the mayor and city council, in response, opened a day-labor center which would serve two purposes: 1) get these people off the street; and 2) allow the city to check immigration status of their hordes of day laborers. The day labor center was to verify the legal right to work of each of its clients, then hook them up with employers. This was apparently working out very well, forcing both the laborers and the employers to comply with legal requirements regarding employment.
However, a lawsuit inevitably followed. The suit was brought against the City of Herndon for breaching the rights of the illegal immigrants to work in the city of Herndon.
From the Washington Post:
At issue was an ordinance the council approved in 2005 as a legal companion to the day-laborer center, barring workers and motorists from striking deals for employment on the streets. The courts have generally required that communities barring public solicitation for work -- a form of speech -- must provide an alternative venue for that speech, such as a hiring site.
The town's plan began to collapse last year when a Reston man, Stephen A. Thomas, ticketed for hiring a laborer in the parking lot of the Elden Street 7-Eleven, challenged the law on First Amendment grounds.
A district court found in favor of the town, but Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Leslie Alden ruled for Thomas on Aug. 29. Alden said the anti-solicitation ordinance fell short not only on First Amendment grounds but also under the equal protection requirements of the 14th Amendment. She said the Herndon center was not sufficient to make up for the ban on job solicitation because the town intended to bar illegal immigrants from the site. Alden said the Supreme Court has ruled that the equal protection provision applies to noncitizens as well.
Alden's ruling left DeBenedittis and the Town Council in a dilemma. An appeal could take months, even years. With no one available to operate the center according to its wishes, the town would have to take over the facility. But to preserve the anti-solicitation ordinance, the town would have to open the center to those who might be in the country illegally -- violating a core campaign promise.
So the city has decided to take down the day labor center rather than continue to fight the court battle. In a radio interview this morning, DeBenedittis said the city believes that the exorbitant legal fees would outweigh the results of keeping the day labor center open. The town will seek to enforce existing zoning ordinances, since there is no zoning for an employment center within city limits.
So the issue I have with this ruling and its consequences is as follows: this is ridiculous! This ruling shows that no local jurisdiction has the legal ability to enforce immigration. If any homeowner gets uppity about Salvadoran nationals defecating on their property, they must allow it because to do otherwise would abrogate the illegal's Constitutional rights to free speech. And guaranteed that the Southland Corporation, owner of the 7-Eleven chain, will have nothing done about it due to the possibility of negative publicity. Also can't stop solicitation on street corners or 7-Eleven parking lots, since it's the illegal's right to ask for work even though he has no legal right to such work inside the United States.