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 .