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Immigration See other Immigration Articles Title: Group tracks day labor employers: Citizens claim illegals hurt local contractors Group tracks day labor employers By Eugene Driscoll and Jaime Garzon DANBURY ? Frustrated by the lack of enforcement of immigration laws, members of the Connecticut Citizens for Immigration Control are compiling a list of license plates belonging to contractors who pick up day laborers at Kennedy Park. People from the group's Danbury chapter plan to trace the plates through the Department of Motor Vehicles, turn the information over to police and boycott the contractors who hire illegal immigrants. "The purpose is twofold. First, the contractors who pick up these illegal aliens are breaking the law by employing them, as you know," said Elise Marciano, president of the group's Danbury chapter. "Number two, we want to identify them because they are underbidding other contractors who refuse to hire illegal aliens." Marciano said frustrated local painters, roofers and landscapers have joined the Danbury chapter. "These are small contractors who are on their own. They are feeding their families and they are finding that these other contractors who are hiring these illegals are underbidding them because they are not paying taxes on the illegals," Marciano said. She wasn't sure how many times members of the group have been in Kennedy Park collecting information. She said she expects to learn more later this month, when the group meets again in Danbury. However, a man who opposes the group but attended the last meeting nonetheless, said the group was supposed to be out in full force starting July 5 and continue until July 17. Meanwhile, anonymous flyers sympathetic to day laborers, written in Spanish, appeared last week. "A group of vigilantes (against immigrants) in Danbury plans to sabotage the contractors who hire illegal immigrants in Kennedy Park," the flyer read. Everything seemed normal at the hiring site Tuesday morning, where about 60 day laborers stood in the grass and on sidewalks waiting for contractors to pick them up. However, three laborers ? two from Ecuador and one from Mexico ? said there were fewer workers than usual because of rumors about immigration officials coming to the city. "I heard about it but didn't see anything this morning," said a 24-year-old undocumented worker from Mexico. The men also heard Americans were planning to follow contractors to job sites to humiliate the employees. The men worried contractors would stop coming to Kennedy Park, where, they said, an increased police presence is already making it tough to find work. Luis Ordonez, 34, from Ecuador, said he is trying to become a legal U.S. resident ? a process that can take a decade. In the meantime, Ordonez said he is in Danbury to work off $27,000 in debt he owes in Ecuador. The laborers said they do not steal jobs from Americans. They complained that contractors routinely pay them less than their American counterparts. "We get $9 or $10 an hour," said "Fred," 34, an undocumented man from Mexico, "and I've worked alongside Americans who make $18 to $20 an hour." The men said they don't want to become American citizens. All three want to return to their home countries. Instead, they want documents saying they can work in the country legally. Wilson Hernandez, chairman of the Danbury Area Coalition for the Rights of Immigrants, said laborers at Kennedy Park need a safer place to wait for jobs. However, he said scaring contractors isn't the right thing to do. "That is not going to help anybody," Hernandez said. "It's not going to help the problem." Hernandez also said the concerned citizens group operates on a flawed assumption ? that everyone who hangs out at Kennedy Park is an illegal immigrant. "Not all immigrants are illegal. We don't know how many of them are undocumented," he said. The Connecticut Citizens for Immigration Control formed in March and held its first meeting a month later in Danbury. Since then, members of the group have held forums in West Hartford and Waterbury. The group advocates tightening the U.S. border and enforcing immigration laws. They are against amnesty for illegal immigrants. The Danbury chapter formed roughly a month ago, Marciano said. The local group plans to write letters to elected officials in Washington, D.C., and lobby against an immigration reform bill supported by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass. Marciano said the group is not racist or against immigration in general. Instead, it wants to show the effects of illegal immigration in Danbury. "The people who are in this group love Danbury," Marciano said. "They do not want to see it ruined. They are not happy with what's happening to it and they are tired of paying additional taxes to accommodate these people." Marciano said she would be willing to meet with Hernandez so they could discuss the issues face-to-face, not through the press. Hernandez said he would meet with Marciano provided her group did not insinuate that immigrants are criminals, terrorists or "job stealers." "I would have no problem meeting with these people but they have to admit this isn't a problem with just one group. This is a problem of the city. The main thing is that they have to accept that people are here and acknowledge that they are contributing to the progress of the city one way or another," Hernandez said. The local chapter of Connecticut Citizens for Immigration Control meets twice a month at the Concordia Society building on Crosby Street. About 40 people attended the last meeting, Marciano said.
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#1. To: Mr Nuke Buzzcut (#0)
"That is not going to help anybody," Hernandez said. "It's not going to help the problem." BS.. what a load of crap.
"I've coined new words, like, "misunderstanding" and "Hispanically"." - GW Bush
I know what will create a safer place for day laborers: Arrest the illegals and those who hire them.
Right.. this guy is claiming there are some there that are legal ..well remove the illegals and then there will be no confusion.
"I've coined new words, like, "misunderstanding" and "Hispanically"." - GW Bush
Hernandez said he would meet with Marciano provided her group did not insinuate that immigrants are criminals, terrorists or "job stealers." Immigrants may not be criminals, but ILLEGAL immigrants always are.
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