A closer look -- Job Center a whirl of controversy
Lolita Harper
COSTA MESA -- Council members will scrutinize and debate the merits of
the Job Center tonight, possibly adding more restrictions, in an effort
to bring some sort of end to years of heated debate about the city-funded
hub of dayworker employment.
Administrative Services staff members have recommended that the
council keep the Job Center open but impose further restrictions, such as
excluding dayworkers who do not live in Costa Mesa and placing greater
emphasis on checking identification.
Current city estimates are that 37% of those who use the center are
not Costa Mesa residents.
But while the City Council considers tightening the reins on the Job
Center, experts say more restrictions could compromise the initial goal
of the employment site.
The Job Center, at the corner of 18th Street and Placentia Avenue,
opened in 1988 to provide a central “clearing house” for contractors and
employers to find temporary work after years of resident complaints of
dayworkers congregating at various city parks and businesses. It costs
$87,000 a year to run the center, which works on a lottery system.
Since its opening, police and city officials say the center has
successfully reduced or eliminated the problems associated with
unorganized solicitation throughout the city.
LESS IS MORE Rusty Kennedy, the executive director of the
Orange County Human Relations Commission, said the more rules a job
center has, the less people it can serve, therefore sending those who
need to work to other parts of the city.
Less is more, he said. In his 20 years of working with various job
centers, Kennedy said the most effective are those centers that don’t
really get involved between the employer and the employee.
“The job centers that function the best are those that house the
activity with minimal involvement,” Kennedy said. “Just to make sure it
is structured and safe, without the pandemonium of people rushing up to
cars.”
Stacia Mancini, a recreation services division manager who oversaw the
most recent study on the center, said she never took that point of view
into consideration. While she agreed Kennedy’s opinion made a lot of
sense, she doubted a majority of the council would ever support it.
“If we were to loosen the regulations, I don’t think it would ever fly
with our council,” Mancini said. “There may be certain council members
who may feel in their hearts that would be best but would never get three
votes.”
A CENTER OF DEBATE
Council members have been under increasing political pressure to close
the Job Center since Councilman Chris Steel was elected in 2000. Steel’s
supporters have since waged a campaign against the center, claiming it
attracts poor people to the city and promotes illegal employment.
They have focused attention on claims that on-site city staff --
charged with checking for proper proof of legal residency before
assigning work to day laborers -- allow illegal immigrants to participate
by not properly screening their identification.
Even workers at the center have admitted they do not have the proper
paperwork yet still use the center. Eddie Bernal, 22, and fellow worker
Javier Savana, 32, admitted nobody they knew had legal papers. Nobody has
the time to apply for them or to wait until they are approved, Savana
said.
But the city is not mandated by law to screen for legal residency,
Kennedy said.
“The city might like to but they are not required to,” Kennedy said.
Mancini said the Job Center was created with the condition that it
provide a service to only legal residents, but it is ultimately the
responsibility of the employer who is picking up the dayworker to ensure
residency and fill out the required tax forms. On-site staff must accept
what appears to be reasonable identification, she said.
ENFORCEMENT RESTS WITH INS
David A. Martin, former general counsel for the Immigration and
Naturalization Services, said the city must walk a fine line between
antidiscrimination and not promoting illegal work.
The same law that mandates proof of residency also makes sure
employers do not over scrutinize, and possibly discriminate against,
foreigners, he said. If the identification appears on its face to be
genuine, it must be taken as sufficient identification.
“The real enforcement of the law is the INS’s responsibility,” Martin
said.
A skilled INS agent can ask a lot more questions and further explore a
person’s legal status, Martin said. The agency used to perform random
spot checks on centers it believed was performing identification
screenings in bad faith, Martin said, but have cut back on that practice
because of a lack of resources.
“In recent years, it has been a fairly low priority and enforcement
efforts have been turned to the border, traffickers and smugglers,”
Martin said.
Mancini said the INS has never visited the Job Center in the 10 years
she has worked for the city.
Francisco Arcaute, a spokesman for the INS, said Costa Mesa’s Job
Center “has nothing to do with our agency.” He said the agency has no
involvement or participation in the program and does not include the
Costa Mesa employment hub in its random “spot checks.”
“We don’t visit that Job Center. Our efforts are much more focused on
organized smuggling of undocumented [immigrants],” Arcaute said.
Arcaute encouraged concerned residents to present “credible” evidence
of undocumented workers to local INS officers but admitted the agency is
most likely to respond to leads on smuggling rings or undocumented
immigrants who have a criminal history, Arcaute said.
“We don’t detain people left and right. We only act upon credible
leads. I don’t want the readers to get a sense that we are everywhere,”
Arcaute said.
MAKING A LIVING
Emidiglio Jaimes said although he has the proper documentation, he
chooses not to use the Job Center because the rules are too strict.
Jaimes instead seeks work across the street from the center, in front of
a hamburger joint.
“They make you sit with your hands in your lap like a little kid,”
Jaimes said in Spanish. “You are not allowed to talk too loud or make a
sound. They are too controlling over there.”
Jaimes claims the city employees on-site are so involved in the
process, they start to choose favorites and assign jobs based on personal
preference.
“We’re men trying to make a living,” he said. “They need to stay out
of it and just let us work.”
* Lolita Harper covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)
574-4275 or by e-mail at o7 lolita.harper@latimes.comf7 .
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