The Virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is pledging to represent day laborers ensnared in the Herndon Town Council’s mission to squash new, informal labor sites, the chapter’s director told The Examiner on Friday.
Herndon officials plan to wield existing zoning regulationsand other laws to keep employers from soliciting day laborers in the town now that the council has closed the official labor center on Sterling Road. Both moves are part of what the council says is a strategy to combat illegal immigration. But a law that expressly forbid soliciting workers anywhere but the site was recently struck down by a Fairfax County Circuit Court judge.
The town, said ACLU of Virginia Executive Director Kent Willis, has “created an illegal and bizarre scenario” with its plans to use zoning to duplicate the anti-solicitation law. “Clearly individuals have a right to stand in public space and engage in free speech related to employment,” he said. “Herndon cannot, without violating the constitutional rights of day laborers, use zoning ordinances to prevent that kind of speech.” The organization plans to send the town a letter early next week cementing its promise to represent laborers caught up in the new enforcement efforts. Town spokeswoman Anne Curtis declined comment.
The ACLU’s threat is the latest development in the increasingly complicated debate over illegal immigration in the Fairfax County town. The controversy erupted two years ago when a prior council first established the day labor center.
The backlash over its creation, which opponents saw as government-sponsored support for illegal aliens, prompted the ouster of the mayor and much of the town council. Members of the new council, elected on the promise of opposing the center, voted to abolish it last week.
Thomas Fitton, president of District-based Judicial Watch, said the town is on “strong legal ground” in using zoning to target labor sites. “Herndon doesn’t have any laws specifically targeting illegal immigrants per se,” he said.
“They’re going to have to be dealing with zoning and traffic ordinances that are neutral on their face, and apply to both legal and non-legal residents.” He blamed the ACLU for trying “frighten localities from doing anything about the illegal immigration problem,” a charge Willis denied.
