N.Y. Laborers Sue Over Town Anti-Solicitation Law

Business Week reported that: Several groups representing Hispanic day laborers filed a lawsuit in federal court on Tuesday, challenging the constitutionality of a town ordinance that prohibits pedestrians from soliciting employment, and bars drivers from stopping to hire workers. The ban is similar to ordinances enacted in communities in California and elsewhere, and is aimed at preventing suspected undocumented aliens from congregating on public streets to seek employment. Samantha Fredrickson, director of the New York Civil Liberties Union’s Nassau County chapter, called Oyster Bay’s ordinance "misguided." "It is a symptom of the anti-immigrant hostility that has swept across Long Island and the country in recent years," Fredrickson said in a statement. Attorneys for the day laborers plan to ask a federal judge in Central Islip on Wednesday for a temporary restraining order halting enforcement of the law, which was enacted in September.