Legal News

Civil rights groups sue Costa Mesa on behalf of day laborers

By Richard Binder

A pair of civil rights groups, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the ACLU of Southern California filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, challenging Costa Mesa's anti-solicitation ordinance that allegedly prevents day laborers from seeking work on the street.

The suit is a response to a recent police sweep in which undercover officers, posing as undercover employers, rounded up 12 men in a white van at three locations in the city on Sept. 25, then cited them for violating the ordinance after promising them $8 an hour jobs, according to activists.  The men, all of whom were Latino, were deported to Mexico within two days of their arrest after they were discovered to have been illegally working and living in the United States. 

Local police say they received more than 100 complaints about day laborers in certain neighborhoods, reporting public urination and other abusive behavior, which ultimately led to the sweep.

Full story at The Daily Pilot.

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on February 03, 2010 (boomark / email).