Immigrants standing on the corners of Lombard and Broadway in anticipation of landing day work in Baltimore say business is not so good.
“Look at all the men standing around, there?s no work for anyone” said, Michael pointing to a few dozen men loitering on the medium around 9:30 a.m., a time when normally the men said most would be working.
Michael and those gathered around him agreed to talk to The Examiner under the condition that their last names would not be used.
A day worker from Honduras, Michael said the negative media coverage has made people reluctant to offer him work. “Nobody wants to hire because of all the things on TV,” he said
The men, some with green cards and some without, spend their days across the street from the 7-Eleven convenience store, waiting for contractors in pickups and vans to offer a day?s work.
Work, they said, has been scarce since the debate has stirred fears of immigrants.
“The things they say, that we break law[s] is untrue” said Glaaliel, a worker from El Salvador.
“We do jobs nobody wants for $8 an hour.”
What concerns the men most, is not being deported, or even being harassed by the police which they claim occurs daily, but the lack of work, which means less money for their families back home.
“I send all my money to my family,” said Juan, a slight man from Mexico wearing a baseball cap.
“If you don?t believe me, look at my shoes,” pointing to a pair of dirty, tattered sneakers that seem to cling to his ankles. “We need work so our families can eat, nothing more,” he said. Michael said he thinks that deporting illegal workers will harm the U.S economy, and the work that he and his fellow day workers do is essential to the economic health of the country.
“If they deport all of us, everything will fall down” he said, pointing to the building behind him.
