Proposed Suffolk County Law Unfairly Criminalizes Day Laborers, NYCLU Testifies

The NYCLU will testify that Introductory Resolution No. 1022 would discriminate against day laborers, who are overwhelmingly immigrant and Latino, engaged in constitutionally protected activities. The bill would make it unlawful for day laborers to loiter or stand along county roadways while unreasonably hindering the free passage of pedestrians or cars. It would also outlaw loitering or standing along county roadways for the purpose of attempting to solicit or sell any product or service to a vehicle occupant. These regulations would unduly infringe on Suffolk residents’ First Amendment rights to seek work in public spaces.

“The proposal before the Legislature today will devastate the lives of Suffolk County residents by preventing day laborers from supporting their families and putting food on their table,” said Udi Ofer, NYCLU Legislative Counsel, who will give the testimony. “It is an attempt to stifle the economic opportunities available to immigrant and Latino workers.”

This proposed legislation is the latest in a series of thinly veiled attempts by the Suffolk County Legislature to create an inhospitable environment for immigrant workers. Suffolk police officials have said that they do not have statistics on the number of accidents associated with day laborers soliciting jobs on county roadways. Moreover, lawmakers and police officials have yet to explain why current road safety laws — such as New York State’s Vehicle and Traffic Laws — are inadequate to safeguard the County’s roadways. “Road safety,” the NYCLU will show in its testimony, is simply a smoke screen for the real motivations behind legislation that is actually intended to target Latino day laborers who are trying to make a decent living.

“This bill is no innocent public safety measure,” said Donna Lieberman, NYCLU Executive Director. “Instead, it is a hostile attempt to drive day laborers from roadsides and, indeed, from Suffolk County itself.”

In addition to being anti-immigrant and anti-Latino, Ofer will testify, the bill is plainly unconstitutional. The First Amendment protects the right of people to solicit work in public spaces, and IR 1022 unduly infringes on this right by discriminating against day labor speech and preventing day laborers from soliciting work. Similar ordinances have been struck down as unconstitutional by federal courts.

“This bill would further drive the rise of anti-immigrant and anti-Latino sentiments in Suffolk County and the nation,” said Dolores Bilges, Executive Director of the NYCLU’s Suffolk Chapter. “Suffolk County should be welcoming immigrants instead of stirring hysteria with allegations unsupported by evidence.”

Ofer will testify today at the Suffolk County Legislature’s General Meeting, which will take place at 2:00 pm today at William H. Rogers Legislature Building, 725 Veterans Memorial Highway, Hauppauge.