The Observer Newspapers | Day Labor Problem is Evidence of Failed Policy

August 15, 2008

Day Labor Problem is Evidence of Failed Policy

To the editor:

So we now have a problem of day laborers hanging out on the streets and sidewalks and our mayor and Town Council are seeking a solution that involves possibly unconstitutional legislation to penalize employers, workers and coerce private business owners to get people thrown off their property.

They also want to spend our tax dollars for a policeman to harass these laborers who are simply trying to feed their families in troubling economic times. Here's an idea: How about a regulated day labor site that allows for employers to find laborers in an orderly fashion, protects the workers from abuse, offers some services to help these new Americans assimilate better, allows for better hygiene to be observed (bathrooms, etc.) and could be paid for by Fairfax County so it wouldn't cost the Town of Herndon.

Then we could legally enforce a zoning law that would keep laborers from gathering on the sidewalks and streets.

Oh, that's right—we had that. And then our anti-immigrant mayor and Town Council spent our tax dollars in a lawsuit and on other machinations to get it closed down even though it was working. Sometimes intolerance, inhumanity and downright prejudice just come back to bite you, don't they?

Leila McDowell

Herndon