Jackson Heights Life

Here's an update from The New York Times

The New York Times
Police Release 10 Day Laborers Arrested at Gathering Place in Queens
By KIRK SEMPLE
Published: October 22, 2008

Charges against 10 men accused of blocking a sidewalk at a popular Queens gathering place for day laborers will be dismissed after six months if the defendants stay out of trouble, the Queens district attorney’s office said on Wednesday.

The men, who were arrested on Tuesday on charges of disorderly conduct, were all released from police custody by Wednesday afternoon, and their cases were “adjourned in contemplation of dismissal,” said Helen Peterson, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office.

Police officials said that they had arrested the men, all of them day laborers, after repeated complaints from residents near the intersection of Broadway and 37th Avenue, one of several intersections in Jackson Heights where scores of laborers gather every day hoping to be chosen for work.

The police said that they gave the men a chance to disperse and detained those who did not leave the site. But several laborers who witnessed the arrests said that the police officers had given the men no such opportunity and simply asked them for identification before taking them away in two police vans.

Advocates for day laborers said that the arrests were highly unusual; the police have generally allowed day laborers to gather on certain street corners around the city in search of employment, a quest that has become increasingly difficult this year as the economy has worsened.

But police officials said that their action was a response to neighborhood complaints and did not signal the start of an offensive against day laborers.

Immediately after the arrests, day laborers who remained on Jackson Heights street corners expressed fear that the men who were arrested, many of whom were believed to be illegal immigrants, might be deported.

But police officials said they had not notified federal immigration officials of the suspects’ status. The police officials did not respond to repeated requests for an explanation of their policy regarding the notification of federal immigration authorities when they have an illegal immigrant in their custody.

Ms. Peterson said that “as a general rule,” the Queens district attorney’s office did not ask an arrested person about immigration status. But she added, “In rare cases, however, such as when a defendant has re-entered the country after having been deported, which is a federal crime, we do notify federal immigration authorities.”

This protocol is in keeping with a citywide policy, established by two executive orders, not to inquire or report on the immigration status of city residents who approach the city seeking services, information or help, according to Guillermo Linares, commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs.

The orders, known collectively as Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, are intended to encourage illegal immigrants’ trust in the city’s institutions, he said. “There are half a million New Yorkers who are undocumented and may be fearful of approaching government when they have information,” Mr. Linares said.

But he said the orders provided law enforcement officials with some discretion to report a suspect’s immigration status to federal officials.

I am a woman and I walk by there every day.  The men that congregate there have never been anything but polite to me.  They don't catcall women.  I have nothing but sympathy for them - it can't be an easy life.   

People calling and complaining reeks of xenophobia or classism to me.   

I'd much rather have day-laborers hanging around then the drunks that hassle me near Kabab King. 

I am outraged at the police treatment of these unfortunate people, all of whom have always been polite to me. Over the years I have watched them Waite on the sidewalk from dawn till dusk hoping some one will hire them so they can support themselves and their poor families back home.I see fear and dejection with each passing hour as the prospect of employment diminishes with each passing hour. Thank God for the Salvation Army who provides them with a small meal daily. Public toilets are extremely hard to find in this city if not in America,off course they have to urinate somewhere.

I am a woman and I walk by there every day.  The men that congregate there have never been anything but polite to me.  They don't catcall women. 

I walk down Roosevelt to the subway every morning... and not a day goes by that a couple of them don't catcall.  I don't take the subway home when it gets too late because there are always men hanging around there then, also.  I'm simply walking by and not bothering them, so I don't know why they feel the need to talk to me.  They make kissing noises as well.

Either one of you is making it up, or the other one is too unattractive/old to waste time catcalling.

Try stopping at a light there in anything that resembles a work vehicle and mistakenly make eye contact with one of them.    It's like a flock of pigeons going after a half-eaten donut.

The Police's, or more likely the Dept of Consumer Affairs' time would be better spent going after the contractors that pick these guys up for work every day.   Seize a few vehicles and revoke a few licences and you'll see how fast they disappear.

What I'm honestly afraid of is the impact of the economy on their behavior.  I see these folks as mostly harmless now, never had a problem with them, but when things get desperate, I don't want them tempted enough to start breaking into people's homes or mugging folks walking home from the subway.   I'm not saying they should be targeted for arrests.  That is just plain wrong in my book.  Some social service program needs to get involved with helping them, especially now with winter approaching. 

That's a different group of guys.  Those guys catcall me too (I must not be as hideous as Handyman-B assumes).  They sometimes move up the road and hang out by Kabab King and Sammy's.  The daylaborers are farther down Roosevelt toward Woodside. 

On the topic of taxes, I would like to point out that all immigrants, even undocumented immigrants, do contribute to the tax base.  When they buy a cup of coffee, they pay the same 8.34% tax as the rest of us.  But it probably represents a higher percentage of their income.  And when they pay their rent, they are paying their landlord's property tax.  And when they buy a sponge or a quart of milk at the corner store, they are contributing to the property taxes of the store owners.  In addition, a lot of undocumented immigrants get taxpayer id numbers, and not only pay local and federal income taxes, but also contribute to social security, which they will probably never collect. If they splurge and buy a beer, lots of taxes.  If they drive a vehicle, gas is heavily taxed.  And like all low income people, the flat taxes they pay represent a much higher percentage of their income than what middle class people pay.

Also keep in mind that when they get injured on the job and go to the emergency room, it's my "middle class" taxes and insurance premiums that go up to pay for the care of the uninsured. When their kids get sick, or start attending public schools here, it's also through the benefit of my "middle class" income and property tax dollars. And when one of them splurges to buy beer or liquor, then climbs behind the bushes in front of my co-op to relieve themselves -- only to pass out drunk -- which actually happened this past summer, it was again my tax dollars that paid for the cops, firefighters and paramedics that came, carried him out, administered fluids, and took him off to the hospital. Your heart can bleed all it wants for the plight of these day laborers, but as the economy worsens, the middle class dies, and municipalities scramble to find revenues, they will only become a source of increasing problems for Jackson Heights and the surrounding communities
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So would middle class tax dollars be better spent on building a wall between the US and Mexico ? Too bad we didn't start that a few years back we could have gotten the Berlin Wall at a great price. Should we spend middle class tax dollars on rounding up and deporting an estimated 9 million undocumented workers ? And what about the approximately 46 million American citizens without health care? Certainly their emergency room trips cost the middle class tax payer a fair sum too, both in taxes and insurance premiums. Simple math dictates that caring for 46 million uninsured people is a lot more expensive than caring for 9 million.

No one should urinate in someones front yard and pass out in the bushes. Be they undocumented or some frat boy out after a night of drinking. But shouldn't the punishment fit the crime ?  Why should either person, immigrant or frat boy, be treated differently ?

While compassion and caring for others should be a guiding principle, it's not so much a "bleeding heart" argument to ask that policy makers and the public look at actual facts before launching in to rhetoric that serves no one.     

Also keep in mind that when they get injured on the job and go to the emergency room, it's my "middle class" taxes and insurance premiums that go up to pay for the care of the uninsured. When their kids get sick, or start attending public schools here, it's also through the benefit of my "middle class" income and property tax dollars. And when one of them splurges to buy beer or liquor, then climbs behind the bushes in front of my co-op to relieve themselves -- only to pass out drunk -- which actually happened this past summer, it was again my tax dollars that paid for the cops, firefighters and paramedics that came, carried him out, administered fluids, and took him off to the hospital. Your heart can bleed all it wants for the plight of these day laborers, but as the economy worsens, the middle class dies, and municipalities scramble to find revenues, they will only become a source of increasing problems for Jackson Heights and the surrounding communities
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Is this discussion about human beings and are we addressing them as "those people."  Perhaps we should walk in their shoes for a day.  I don't think we truly have a clue.