From Our Redondo Beach Vacation. August 2004 [Click For Popup Panorama]

Let me set the scene for you. You're on vacation in Redondo Beach, California and are walking around town enjoying your stay. You decide to head down to get a bite to eat and do some shopping. As you approach the area from afar you notice a group of 30 Mexicans in dirty clothes hanging around outside of the businesses asking everyone who comes by questions.

You:
a) Walk somewhere else to eat and shop.
b) Continue on. After all you're 6'6 290 LBS. of raw muscle and know they won't bother you.
c) Curiously walk up to them and ask them how they're doing.
d) Know they are nice friendly people who are not harassing people who just want to enjoy themselves.

Well to crack down on this type of question even having to occur, Redondo Beach arrested dozens and dozens of these harassing loiterers in October. On November 16th, 30 of these disrupters of business filed a lawsuit against the city claiming their First Amendment rights of free speech were threatened by the city's actions.

Sacramento Bee

In issuing a temporary restraining order, U.S. District Judge Consuelo Marshall said the city's policy could do "irreparable harm" to workers and questioned whether it was constitutional.

Redondo Beach will have an opportunity to respond during a Dec. 13 hearing. If the city's attorneys are unable to show cause, the ban could be extended through the duration of the case, said Thomas Saenz, vice president of litigation for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

"We're pleased that the judge has issued the order," said Saenz, whose group represents the Committee of Workers of Redondo Beach and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. "The law was strong on our side, and it was important the city be prevented from its aggressive enforcement."

"Fuck the businesses and the business owners who are affected by a bunch of stinky guys hanging out in front of their business" Saenz continued on. "That's what they get for investing millions of dollars and tons of hard work into trying to become successful. They should just apply for government aid like all the illegal aliens in the state we defend by playing the race card." Saenz then spat on the doormat of one of the businesses.

Day laborers have said demand for their services is what draws them to two corners in Redondo Beach and deny suggestions they harass customers who try to enter nearby businesses.

Redondo Beach officials said they are not concerned with illegal immigration and only made the arrests as a last resort after numerous public complaints and repeated warnings to laborers.

Jerry Goddard, city attorney for Redondo Beach, said Monday he had not seen the judge's order but was disappointed by the action.

"The city's method of enforcement does not violate the constitutional rights of the day laborers," he said. He added that the city had based its actions on a similar case from Phoenix upheld by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, though the judge said the facts underlying that case were different.

Goddard said the city detained only those people who were causing road hazards. Redondo Beach had tried setting up an alternative employment site half a mile away, Goddard said, but it had been unable to draw contractors and workers from the current location, which is convenient to the freeway and to neighboring cities.

Seems like Redondo Beach has done all it can to accommodate the day laborers and all they get is a slap in the face. What else is the city supposed to do when it gets repeated complaints? If they're breaking the law then they need to be arrested.

Saenz is so proud of his work and continues to expand it and allow more day laborers to hang out in more cities and harass people.

Saenz said his organization has identified at least 50 cities statewide that prohibit day laborers from soliciting work in the street, among them Agoura Hills, San Bernardino and Chino.

The organization has successfully represented day laborers against the city of Los Altos in Northern California and against Rancho Cucamonga, Upland and Los Angeles County.

A case against Glendale is pending, Saenz said.

Here's tip for you Saenz, you fuckhead, soliciting people on the street is harassment. If it's affecting businesses and in general lowering the desire of an area it needs to go. No one wants to be going about their vacation or their daily grind and to constantly be harassed by a bunch of strangers whom they don't know whether they are criminals or not.

Sure, people need to make a living, but I'm guessing the majority of these "day laborers" they are defending are not supposed to be in this country in the first place. Hopefully one day there will be laws on the books that will allow law enforcement to check people's identification and get rid of illegals and -- in this particular case -- costing actual productive citizens of this nation money by disrupting their customers and business.

Tipped by: SoCalLawBlog

* * *

Update: (6:54 AM PST)

After hunting around for awhile I found this post over at LoneWacko Blog that has a link to this story from Frontpage Magazine

The Ford Foundation, for example, in 1968 single-handedly funded the creation of The Mexican American Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF) and The Southwest Council Of La Raza, later renamed National Council Of La Raza. Both groups are radical mouthpieces for the "rights" of illegal immigrants (including the advocacy of college tuition for illegals at state universities), have managed to force bilingual education in many areas and remain wholly unrepresentative of the average Hispanic-American citizenry.

La Raza literally means "the race" a pro-race group of Mexicans. A central goal of the organization is to take back portions of the United States for Mexico.

Other Commentary

Master Of None