In the last couple of months the anti-immigrant forces have stepped up their campaign against these workers, who are picked up at street corners by construction and landscaping contractors. In November the local town council voted unanimously to exclude these workers as of January 1 from an area used for these purposes, known as the “muster zone.” This was done through a city ordinance that threatens “loiterers”—along with “horn-blowers” and those accused of obstruction—with a fine of $500 and 30 days in jail.

Local authorities have threatened to hand over to immigration cops those undocumented workers arrested under this ordinance. Freehold is home to a growing community of workers from Latin America, mostly from Mexico but also from Argen tina and elsewhere.

A number of Freehold residents and others rallied to the workers’ side, angered by the council’s discriminatory move. On December 1, nearly 300 day laborers and supporters rallied outside the municipal building to protest the ordinance, then crowded into the council chambers as council members and others debated and heard testimony on the measure.

The majority of those who spoke at the hearing expressed opposition to the ordinance, appealing to councilors to suspend it until an alternative could be found. Supporters of the measure also spoke in its defense. At the end of the meeting councilwoman Sharon Shutzer said that the decision would stand.

“What town in Monmouth County has done more for (the immigrant) community than this town?” said Councilman Kevin Coyne. Freehold can no longer “afford to be so hospitable,” he said.

“In some Mexican villages, Freehold is a household word,” Coyne complained. “It means a place to find work. We are Democrats, we are all liberals here, but we have to do this.”

The ordinance and the protests against it are the latest developments in a polarized situation that has been brewing over the past half-year.

In June 2003, Freehold mayor Michael Wilson launched a “comprehensive quality of life enforcement program,” to aggressively “combat the issues that threaten our quality of life.” He listed such alleged problems as overcrowding, littering, and housing violations. Additional cops were hired to enforce the program, and a special court was set up to deal with infractions. Day laborers reported that the police stepped up harassment by ticketing those who gather in pursuit of work.

Emboldened by the borough’s decisions, a rightist group called PEOPLE (Pressing Our Elected Officials to Protect Our Living Environment), headed by former borough councilman Marc LeVine, reared its head. Its members have called for the arrest and deportation of the day laborers. The group models itself on Sachem Quality of Life, which has waged an aggressive campaign against workers of Mexican and Central American origin who live and work in Long Island, New York.

The workers have refused to be intimidated, however, and have organized a number of meetings to explain their fight to others and assert their rights. Cops and members of PEOPLE have been present at these meetings on occasion.

With the help of the National Day Laborers Organizing Network and the Second Baptist Church in Freehold, these workers have set up a temporary hiring center in the church hall and parking lot, while a more permanent solution is worked out. The hall begun operating January 1, the day the city ordinance went into effect. Days before the hiring hall opened, members of PEOPLE passed out leaflets in the neighborhood, informing residents that an “illegal alien hiring site” would be operating nearby.

On December 30 some 300 workers and others participated in a meeting to prepare for the opening of the hiring hall.

With the backing of the organizing network and the Monmouth County Residents for Immigrant Rights, representatives of the workers filed a class action suit December 30 against the town’s mayor in a federal court in Trenton, New Jersey, charging violation of their constitutional rights.  
 
 
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