VISTA – With dozens of protesters outside and a crowd of 100 packed inside its chambers, the City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to regulate the hiring of day laborers on the streets of Vista.
The ordinance will become law July 28.
CRISSY PASCUAL / Union-Tribune
Jose Ortiz joined others yesterday in opposing a Vista ordinance. Many held signs saying: "No human being is illegal." Several City Council members maintained that the law, which requires employers to register with the city, would benefit day laborers.
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Before the vote, the council heard from speakers on both sides of the issue, with some coming from around the county to voice their opinions or applaud those who got up to speak.
The Sheriff's Department stepped up security for the meeting, with more than 100 deputies deployed in Vista, said Capt. Glenn D. Revell. The city also stationed a metal detector at the doorway into the council chambers.
The ordinance requires employers to register with the city before hiring laborers who wait for work on local street corners. Most of the workers are Latino.
Several council members said the ordinance would benefit day laborers.
“This should, in fact, improve their condition,” said Councilman Bob Campbell.
Council member Frank Lopez agreed, saying, “This is not about racism.”
CRISSY PASCUAL / Union-Tribune
Dozens of protesters gathered in Vista.
But supporters of the ordinance were
just as vocal. Backers argued that
“hiring illegals is illegal.”
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Before the vote, Mayor Morris Vance said the ordinance was a first step, with the next step finding a nonprofit organization to operate a hiring hall or hiring site in the city.
The vote yesterday was a second reading of the ordinance the council had tentatively approved at its last meeting. Since then, activists have rallied on both sides of the issue.
Before yesterday's meeting, several dozen people holding signs and American flags rallied in front of City Hall to support the ordinance. About a half-mile away at the corner where day laborers gather every morning, a group of several dozen people rallied to protest the law.
At the rally outside City Hall, San Diego Minutemen founder Jeff Schwilk said his group supported the ordinance but opposed any move the city might make in hosting a hiring hall.
Hiring sites could attract illegal immigrants and allow employers to evade tax laws, Schwilk said. One protester held a sign, saying: “Hiring illegals is illegal.”
Up the road at the day-laborer site at Escondido and South Santa Fe avenues, those opposed to the ordinance held signs that read, “No human being is illegal.”
Holding one of these signs, Debbie Hall, 49, of Poway said she came to the protest with about a half-dozen members of her Unitarian Universalist congregation.
“I really think that it's a non-issue,” Hall said of the ordinance and of anti-immigration protests, adding, “that it's a distraction” from addressing the real issue: that immigrants head north because they can't find work in Mexico.
Sylvia Hansen, 50, of Santee said she came to support the day laborers because she felt akin to them. As a substitute teacher, she said she waits by the phone – instead of a curb – for work.
“An attack on any worker is an attack on all workers,” Hansen said.
The ordinance requires employers to register with the city before hiring day laborers at sites that aren't owned or managed by the employers or a subcontractor. The registration would last a year.
Employers also would be required to post the registration on their vehicles when hiring laborers and to give workers a “term sheet” describing the job and its location, rate of pay and employer contact information.
City officials have said the measure protects day laborers from abuses, such as wage disputes. Critics, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, have said the measure could be unconstitutional and is designed to discourage employers from hiring day laborers.
City officials have said they want to put a stop to the daily gathering at Escondido and South Santa Fe avenues, which have generated complaints from some residents and nearby businesses.
City Attorney Darold Pieper said the ordinance “simply requires that anyone who intends to hire someone from, principally, a vehicle has to first register with the city.”
Matthew Rodriguez:
(760) 476-8245; matthew.rodriguez@uniontrib.com
