JW Files Opening Brief in Laguna Beach Day Labor Site Lawsuit
Friday, October 26, 2007
By Tom Fitton
Judicial Watch President
Fresh from our big
victory in Herndon, Virginia, where city officials shut down their
illegal taxpayer-funded day labor site, Judicial Watch filed its “opening brief”
this week in a lawsuit filed against the City of Laguna Beach, California, over
its ““Laguna
Beach Day Worker Center.”.” I encourage you to read our
lawyers’ court
filing, as many of its legal
arguments should be of interest to anyone battling taxpayer-funded illegal
day labor sites anywhere in America.
“As the undisputed facts in this matter will demonstrate,
day laborers receiving employment at the Center consist predominantly of
undocumented aliens who lack authorization to work in the United States,” JW
argued in its opening brief, filed on behalf of Laguna Beach taxpayers Eileen
Garcia and George Riviere. “As a result, the City’s use of taxpayer
resources to operate the Center brazenly ignores federal law proscribing the
employment of illegal aliens.”
By way of review, here are the basic
facts: In 1993, Laguna Beach established a day labor site after
complaints of “nuisances” related to illegal aliens. (Sound
familiar?) At the outset, the City provided basic services for the illegal
alien day labor site, including landscaping, a water line, driveway, fencing,
etc. In 1999, however, the City of Laguna Beach hired a non-profit
organization, South County, to operate the site. Over the next nine years,
the City provided $206,500 to South County in the form of “community assistance
grants.” (South County receives more “community assistance” funding than
any other social service in Laguna Beach, including those designed to help
children and the elderly.)
Overall, in any given month, 1,000 day laborers will
receive services from the Center, including employment assistance, food
distribution, medical check ups, health information, education and English
instruction.
If you follow our work against illegal alien day labor
sites, you’re likely familiar with our arguments against them by now. It
is illegal to hire an illegal alien. It is illegal to hire an individual
without complying with employment verification requirements. It is illegal
to induce an illegal alien to cross the border. The Laguna Beach site does
all three of these things and more at taxpayers’ expense and is, thus, a
violation of federal immigration law.
While the City, and its non-profit partner, South County,
do not screen for employment eligibility, they are clearly aware that the vast
majority of day laborers are illegal aliens.
In fact, a top city official testified at the time the
day labor site was established in 1993, that the City and day laborers had an
“unspoken arrangement that [City officials] would not be calling in the INS
[Immigration and Nationalization Service, now known as Immigration and Customs
Enforcement]…they’re cooperating by going to a location that’s less of a problem
and we’re cooperating by not calling the INS.” Why would such an “unspoken
arrangement” be necessary if the day laborers were legal?
Our lawyers are scheduled to be in court for final
arguments in this lawsuit next month, so stay tuned.
Until next week…
Tom Fitton
President
Judicial Watch is
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