I would like to comment on some of the blogs posted over the last couple of days and also some of the phone calls that I received in response to the Courier News article covering the issue of the day laborers. There are a group of people that are critical of my blog and critical of me regardless of my contribution - in their opinion, nothing I do is deemed to be of a positive nature. They tend to express their criticism of me anonymously. For the record, anonymous criticism does not bother me.
On the other hand I will not hesitate to speak with anyone that expresses a desire to voice an opinion on an issue by calling my office to discuss any of their concerns or their perceptions about my stance on an issue. This week I spoke with constituents that did not agree with the Courier News article. Their calls to the office afforded me an opportunity to discuss their views and open a dialogue about a major issue here in Plainfield and in the State.
With that said, I will not waste my efforts and time addressing anonymous entities. There are too many people that hide behind anonymity to avoid having an open and decent conversation about any issue. Their preference is to remain negative, while leaving the public clueless as to who is writing.
Today I am going to try to explain what we are trying to accomplish here. I say “WE” because this is an issue that affects the city of Plainfield. We have merchants that are moving into the empty stores in the downtown area. Several of these merchants have come into my office to express their concern for the customers that are afraid to get out of their cars because of the day laborers on the street. I have personally witnessed an incident where a man was harassing pedestrians outside of my office. The current situation of the various corners heavily populated with day laborers is a recipe for trouble. This means trouble for the day laborers, pedestrians and ultimately situations that require police intervention. I believe that we must work to avoid these types of incidents. The Courier News article outlined my ideas on what we can do to move this situation forward in a positive direction.
Interestingly everyone agrees that the daily congregation of day laborers on the streets is an issue and a concern. However, in reading the various comments I am troubled by the assumption of many in the blogger community that every day laborer on the street trying to find work is an illegal. Furthermore, the assumption that I am defending illegal immigrants is incorrect. Again, let me be clear – everyone out there trying to find work is not an illegal immigrant.
As an African American man that has fought against racial profiling and worked for legislation to protect all men of color from this type of discrimination I realize the dangerous path that we as a community are treading upon when we make these types of assumptions for any group of people. It is not my place to assume that a man trying to get work is an illegal immigrant nor is it anyone’s place to assume that any young man seen standing on the corner of South Avenue waiting for a bus is a drug dealer.
Like you, I am a citizen. It is not my responsibility to question or card everyone. I am not attempting to intercede on the responsibility of the Federal and State immigration policies. This is an area that the Federal government has been wrestling with for some time. It is indeed a growing concern for other municipalities in our State. The city of Morristown comes to mind because of its unsuccessful effort in attempting to control this issue.
It is well understood that this problem has multiple layers. Several Hispanic organizations have reached out to offer assistance to the day laborers. My objective is to make the streets safe and make the downtown area attractive for shoppers. I believe that this can happen by working with the organizations and resources that are available for members of the Hispanic community. It is my intent to give the day laborers a place to go where they can get the help they need to move their lives in the right direction. I neither support nor am I trying to defend anyone that is in this country illegally and at the same time, I will not place a tag on a person as being in this country illegally because they are looking for work.
The safety of the downtown area is not limited to the reduction of day laborers from the street. I encourage you to pay attention to the current discussion for the elimination of the UEZ program. The result would be an elimination of the salaries of four police officers. This would be devastating to the downtown area since police personnel are currently undermanned as it is.
I am hoping that my comments today make it clear that this is not about supporting people that are here illegally. It is an attempt to deal with a situation that has been whispered about and ignored as though it would go away. The good citizens of Plainfield and the State of New Jersey must recognize and address the issue of congregating day laborers.
Lastly, it is the responsibility of the Federal and State immigration agencies to document the legitimacy of any immigrant in this country. It is not my place to assume or profile a day laborer or any other person as being here illegally.
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