Mustachioed and graying, dressed in the uniform of a full-time job he once had, Gonzalo Garcia is out in front of The Home Depot on Lake Worth Road most mornings, and it doesn’t take much to catch his eye.A braking pickup or the wave of a driver’s hand will send him and several other Hispanic day laborers rushing to the departing vehicle, their eyes bright with the possibility of a day’s work.
Garcia, at 49 a father of four, says he tends to hang back as the younger workers push forward. But his counterparts often run, hoping to be chosen to paint, rip out drywall or lay bricks. The onslaught, a symptom of the voracious competition for dwindling numbers of day jobs, can be surprising to the unsuspecting, and even frightening. In recent years, the Hispanic day laborers have become as much a part of the scenery at The Home Depot west of Lake Worth as the fence and hedges, and as more lose full-time jobs in construction or landscaping, their numbers seem to have grown.
The Home Depot is not pleased. Blaming the job seekers for causing accidents and driving away customers, the world’s largest home improvement retailer has been working to discourage them from rushing vehicles in the driveways and trespassing in the parking lot. But the need for work keeps pushing the men forward, and the result has been an entrenched standoff. Garcia, an undocumented Guatemalan national who had a regular job in construction until being laid off late last year, said he and the others only want to work and have no other way to find steady pay.
“We’re not here because we want to be here,” he said in Spanish. “We need to be.”
After repeated warnings, meetings and occasional trespassing arrests, the sheriff’s office has resorted in recent months to undercover stings to try to keep the laborers in place. The workers are allowed to stand on the sidewalk or along the shoulder in front of the store, which is considered public property. But sheriff’s officials say they get into trouble when they block the entrance or wander past the hedges into the parking lot.
The day laborers are almost all Guatemalans and admit good-naturedly that they occasionally trespass onto The Home Depot’s property. They say there is no other way for them to get the attention of potential hirers. “We’re here for our families,” said Moyno, 22, who came to Florida from Guatemala a year and a half ago and declined to give his last name because he is in the country illegally. “I have a father and mother to support.”
The vast majority of these guys are hard working and honest. But the bottom line is most of these workers are illegal aliens. You can blame who ever you’d like, (Democrats and Republicans) for creating and maybe even encouraging this situation. But these guys are here illegally, pay no taxes, and send the money south of the border. You would think we had a Government Agency in charge of illegal aliens that wouldn’t turn a blind eye to this, but we do, and you have to wonder why.
Isn’t Home Depot one of those companies that supports illegal immigration? So they are the reason for this trouble.
Why don’t they send an ICE officer down there?
We don’t know they are illegals.
This is a temporary situation. Obama-Pelosi-Reid will have these people naturalized in time for the next election.
As to “honest”, how honest is it to have falsified documents? How many honest people not pay income taxes? How many honest people not carry car insurance and run away after causing an accident? Many of these “honest” people are at the root of the home mortgage crisis. (Its no coincidence that the areas with the highest foreclosure rates have the largest illegal populations.)
“Honest and hardworking” is a slogan. The reality is different.
#3 Want to place a bet on the status of most of them?
Most of those illegals can show Americans a thing or three about work ethic.
Maybe if we would stop pissing and moaning about having to come in to work on a rare Saturday, things would be different.
Yeah, yeah, and Sir Walter Raleigh was an illegal alien…in fact, one could say that him and his cronies stated the whole thing.
Okay, tip for hiring day laborers:
If you need say 3, take 4 and fire one of them after about an hour for not working hard enough! An old coworker’s dad who was a filthy lawyer used to use that trick.
As for Home Depot, they are an attractive nuisance when it comes to day laborers. I mean, you don’t see these guys hanging out in front of Nordstrom or even the local ACE Hardware store, now do you?
Why not deport all of them to Mexico or somewhere??
America belongs to us
I have hired them in the past, when contractors didn’t have the time for me. I paid them the same as I would any other contractor. They worked twice as hard and twice as fast for the same money. I would drop them off at the house, appoint one to be job “foreman”, when I returned the work was complete without my supervision. If they did a good job we’d break out the cervsas and I’d take them back to the corner. I was building a house on my own and would have preferred to hire a “legal” contractor, but they were just too busy with the wealthier clients. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.
Improbus does have a point here. Where is ICE? Just a few random busts now and again would solve the problem for Home Depot. I guess ICE has bigger fish to fry.
Typical American psyche…
We need prisons! But, not near my home
We want cheap power! But, no nuclear reactors
We want low prices! Then complain about bad service
We want cheap labor! But, not immigration reform
#7, Okay, tip for hiring day laborers:
If you need say 3, take 4 and fire one of them after about an hour for not working hard enough! An old coworkerâs dad who was a filthy lawyer used to use that trick.
I like!
“Home Depot at Odds with Day Laborers Soliciting Work Outside Stores”
Take out one word: “work”.
You can bet if these were women trying to get drivers’ attention that there’d be ICE presence down there real damn fast.
But seriously. What’s the difference? They’re soliciting. Right?
Don’t mind me. I’m not well.
“Garcia, an undocumented Guatemalan national”
Why won’t these fucks call them what they are? CRIMINALS!!!
Check out this beaner clown car, just amazing!
http://tinyurl.com/c7kek9
#6 is right.
A man looking to work, yes work for an honest day’s pay is something to learn from.
If the economy in the US was as bad as it is in Mexico then I’ll go to Canada or elsewhere to support my family.
Supporting one’s family is more important than legal status. How can one fault someone for doing honest work?
#9 Thomas. So, you’re a loser. You can pay just as well and yet for some reason contractors just can’t be taken away from their wealthy clients. BS. So, what would you do if the illegals did a bad job? Break out the baseball bat? You’re just gutter trash and you would use any excuse to justify breaking the law.
#4 – George, do you live in or near an area that has a high illegal alien population? I do. Yes, those “damn illegals” have done a lot of the things you mention, but so have a lot of “damn citizens.” Hell, look at half of Obama’s appointees and their tax issues. Your point?
17,
I guess you still live in your moms basement? When I was doing my reno’s, I had 12 interviews with contractors. Only 1, ONE was willing to do the work. And I’m talking 70% of a home renovation…
#14 – They are only criminals if…
A – They falsify a social security number
B – They enter the country illegally.
C – They fail to report earnings to the IRS.
If they entered the country legally, get a legit tax ID number and file their taxes every year, they are not criminals. It then becomes a civil case.
Sorry, but that’s just the law, bud. Learn the law before you label someone a criminal.
#19,
Well, I guess it’s who you know then. đ
#20
#14 was speaking about one person mentioned in the article, âGarcia, an undocumented Guatemalan nationalâ. If Garcia is undocumented than we can assume he entered the country illegally. If he is soliciting work after coming illegally then either he is not paying taxes or he falsified a SSN therefore by your own definition he is a criminal. I have a friend who came here from legally Romania and worked VERY hard to attain citizenship. She had to go through a lot of red tape to get here and its not fair to people like her who follow the system and pay taxes, then have illegal aliens come and make money not pay taxes then go back home. If you want to use the system you have to follow it.
# 20 Mac Guy said, “They are only criminals if⌔
You forgot one:
D: after entering legally, failing to leave the US within the time allotted by law…
Illegal or not this is not the way we should get people to install or build things. It is one reason why a decent wage can’t be made.
How many of these people do you think pay taxes? I am sure they get paid cash.
Not paying with-holding taxes is also a crime.
I assume that those who can’t get legal contractors to do the work also don’t want to pay. They prefer to go the cheapest route possible.
#25. Not true. I paid them the going rate at the time. $25.00/hr for the carpenters. $20.00/hr for laborers. $35 for stone masons. Since I am a home owner and not a business, I didnt know how to file W/H taxes on these guys, for the three or four days at a time that I would need them. I respected these men, and they respected me. I paid them well. And the truth is, as Named stated above, it was nearly impossible to get legitimate contractors to take on these jobs, otherwise I would have done so. That is the real world.
#20
You’re a dumb fuck. Look at own stupid post: “B – They enter the country illegally.”
Then read the article: “Garcia, an undocumented Guatemalan national ”
undocumented is liberal code word for “illegal”.
How do people as stupid as you manage to live? Did you evern learn to comprehend?
#27 – you need to find God and not be such a cock sucking asshole.
I don’t have an answer.
It would be better if things could be done in a more orderly manner but I understand the need of people to pay for what they and their families need to survive.
On the other hand if I just want a bucket of paint or some nails I don’t want to deal with this.
If you don’t think this sounds like me I’m much more humane toward people trying to make a living by working than drug pushers or junkies. I cut such people no slack.
# 25 Mr. Fusion said, “Not paying with-holding taxes is also a crime.”
Fortunately, you don’t have to withhold for casual laborers & ICons. So, no crime.