More hysterical overreactions to the presence of day-laborers in the neighborhood... Very disappointing to see police arresting people based on resident complaints rather than the letter of the law. I wonder if this was motivated in part by
yesterday's article?
The New York Times
Police, Responding to Complaints, Arrest 10 Men at Day Laborer Gathering PlaceBy KIRK SEMPLE and AL BAKER
Published: October 21, 2008
The police arrested 10 immigrants on Tuesday on charges that they blocked a sidewalk at a popular gathering place for day laborers in Jackson Heights, Queens, the chief spokesman of the Police Department said.
The arrests came in response to repeated calls from neighborhood residents complaining about the laborers —most of them undocumented — who congregate every day at the intersection of Broadway, 37th Avenue and 69th Street, said the spokesman, Paul J. Browne.
“Police responded to community complaints about them blocking the sidewalk and congregating,†Mr. Browne said, adding that there were 50 to 60 workers at the location on Tuesday morning before the arrests.
“We responded and asked them to disperse,†Mr. Brown said. “All but 10 of them did.â€
Several day laborers who were at the intersection on Tuesday afternoon and said they had witnessed the arrests, denied that the police had given the men an opportunity to disperse. The police, they say, pulled up in two vans, demanded identification from a group of workers clustered near the curb, and took those men away.
Those arrested were charged with disorderly conduct for blocking pedestrian traffic and were taken to a local precinct, where they were being held pending arraignment, Mr. Browne said.
They were unable to provide verifiable identification, Mr. Browne said.
The arrests shocked day laborers who congregate at the intersection. By Tuesday afternoon, several hours after the arrests, about two dozen had returned to the site. The men, some of whom had been going to the intersection for more than three years, said it was the first time the police had arrested workers there.
Indeed, city authorities for years have generally left day laborers alone at the dozens of sites across the city where they gather to wait for work.
But the authorities said that Tuesday’s police action was simply a response to neighborhood complaints and did not represent the start of a crackdown on day laborers.
Mr. Browne described the action as “a police commander responding to complaints†from residents about “a large group congregating.â€
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