Immigrant advocates press for repeal of Herndon day labor law

By Christy Goodman

Social justice and immigration advocates joined with some Herndon residents Tuesday morning to ask the Herndon Town Council to rescind an ordinance they say violates day laborers' civil rights.

The anti-solicitation ordinance prohibits people standing on town roads to communicate to drivers that they are looking for work, distribute pamphlets or ask for contributions.

The council is scheduled to discuss the ordinance in closed session Tuesday night.

Specifically forbidding people to tell drivers they are looking for work instead of outlawing all communication is a violation of a person's First Amendment rights, said Anita Sinha, an attorney with Advancement Project, which has filed lawsuits in similar cases in the past.

Herndon resident Nancy Ramirez said, through a translator, the ordinance is "discriminatory for everyone who lives in the town of Herndon."

"Rescind this ordinance. In the last election I voted for this kind of change, but it seems the council members are forgetting that commitment to us," said Ramirez, a U.S. citizen and six-year town resident.



Herndon's involvement in the illegal immigration debate has quieted recently. But in the past, the town adopted English as its official language; trained local police officers to detain illegal immigrants under the federal 287(g) program; and opened and closed an organized day laborer center in 21 months.

The original anti-solicitation ordinance was struck down by Fairfax County Circuit Court in 2007 for not giving alternatives to free speech, Sinha said.

She said a draft of the current ordinance included an intent statement that said it was designed to remove "visual blight" of day laborers, which she contended violates the 14th Amendment, or the Equal Protection Clause.

The most recent ordinance was passed in June, shortly after the May elections, in which four candidates who took a more pro-immigrant position were elected. Two of the incumbent council members who were against the center lost the election and the other two did not seek reelection.

"They were elected under the premise there would be changes," said Julius Bradley, a Herndon resident. But Bradley said he hasn't seem any.

"They've been sitting on their hands for six months," said Jon Liss, executive director of Virginia New Majority, an organization working to put pressure on the council to rescind the law.

But Bill Campenni, a member of the anti-illegal immigration group Help Save Herndon and a supporter of the law, said, "The day laborer problem has been significantly reduced" due to this and other town laws.

He described the town as "overrun" and "a sanctuary for day laborers" in the past. The laws "control the problem so it doesn't happen again," he said.

Campenni said he thinks the ordinance's wording applies to everyone and that most people in town support it.

If the Herndon Town Council decides to take action on the issue after Tuesday night's discussion, it would be scheduled for a public hearing on Jan. 25 at the earliest, said Anne P. Curtis, a town spokeswoman.

UPDATE, 2:40 p.m.

Herndon Mayor Stephen J. DeBenedittis said, "I'm fine with it as it is. If I thought there was anything wrong with it, I wouldn't have voted for it before."

He said the ordinance "is based on state law, which I don't think would have passed if there was a Constitutional issue there."

The law applies to everyone and targets safety where streets are the busiest, he said. The council is discussing the issue because of community concerns and is "not motivated by outside interest groups or threats," DeBenedittis said.



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