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news report from KATU News (Portland, Oregon) - August 24, 2007

As the debate over the eventual status and social support of illegal
immigrants in the United States continues to be a focal point of
controversy, the mayor of Portland and the Portland City Council say
they are planning to build a center that would help dozens of legal and
illegal day laborers.

Representatives of=A0=A0Mayor Tom Potter's office recently went to
Seattle to tour the "day labor center" in operation there. 

Portland Mayor Tom Potter has repeatedly said he would like to see a
similar facility in Portland. 

In Seattle, the action begins before 6 a.m. most days. Men wait for Casa
Latina, Seattle's day labor center to open. They are all hoping to find
work for the day.

Each morning, they check in, get a raffle ticket, and by 6:15 a.m. they
wait for their number to be picked.

If their number does come up, each worker is given a bright vest so
prospective employers know who's part of the program.

The workers are either picked up by employers who pull curbside or the
center takes bookings over the phone and delivers the workers by van to
job sites.
In the eight years since the Casa Latina center opened, wages have been
raised three times. 

Currently, workers are paid a minimum $12 an hour for gardening=A0=A0and
up to $20 an hour for specialized work like setting tile.

Hilary Stern, executive director of Casa Latina, said that "before we
started the center there were a couple hundred people standing in the
street looking for work in this neighborhood. We've been able to get
most of them off the street and into the center." 

Back in Portland at Southeast 6th Avenue and East Burnside street, day
laborers hang out in the open near a fence as they have for years.

Many are in the state and country illegally. 
One man KATU talked to told us that he was in the country illegally but
was not afraid of getting caught by the police.

In Portland and Seattle, police are not allowed to ask the immigration
status of those they come into contact with. In Seattle, Casa Latina
operators say they have been told no immigration raids will be conducted
at the facility.

Portland's mayor and the City Council voted to spend $200,000 of city
seed money to mimic what Seattle has created at Casa Latina.

Mayor Potter says the day worker center would provide some structure for
day workers.

"Right now these folks are on the street, they have no protection from
the elements, or from folks who may use their services and not pay for
it,"=A0=A0Mayor Potter told KATU News.

Jim Ludwick of Oregonians for Immigration Reform, firmly opposes the
creation of the day worker center, saying "that [the center] flies in
the face of public sentiment and flies in the face of the rule of law."

Ludwick said he believes it is unfair for the city of Portland to make
it easier for illegal immigrants to compete with American workers.

"Not only are they subsidizing the building itself," Ludwick says,
"they're subsidizing the environment where lawlessness is being
rewarded."

Seattle's day labor center costs $350,000 a year to run. A quarter of
the funding comes from the city, county and state.

The rest of the center's funding comes from fundraisers and private
grants including money from the richest charity in the world, the Bill
and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Americorp workers who teach people English at the facility are paid for
by the federal government.

The success of the center in Seattle has led to plans to move to a new
$4 million location across town and will include expanded services for
immigrants, Including a day labor center.

However, the move is meeting opposition. 
People in the new neighborhood where the center would be located were
given a tour to address their concerns about loitering.

Dale Kaku, a neighborhood leader, said "the city has decided it's going
to stick this thing in a residential neighborhood, and we're opposed to
that."

There are a handful of workers who don't participate in the Seattle
program. Instead, they stand on the sidewalk in the very same way
laborers have been coming to the same spot in Portland for many years.

That may change if Mayor Potter is successful in his plan.

"I think it's a more humane way to do it, rather than ignore the
problem," Potter told KATU News.

"It's there and I think we need to deal with it."

A recent poll conducted by KATU News indicated there was considerable
opposition (66%) to the day labor center idea.

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