Herndon Postpones Day-Laborer Decision

Deluge of Speakers Prompts Delay

Concerns about property values, illegal immigration and human rights collided last night in Herndon as passionate advocates for and against a tax-supported site for day laborers lined up in an effort to sway the Town Council.

Nearly 150 people who had signed up to speak crowded into the town's small municipal building for the fourth night of public hearings this summer, as the council considered how to resolve problems created by scores of immigrants congregating outside a 7-Eleven to seek construction work.

The number of speakers, each allotted three minutes, prompted the council to postpone a vote on the issue, which has overwhelmed the town with publicity.

As people waited to take their seats in the cramped council chambers, zoning officials covered the often-dry details of the proposal from a local social service agency to set up an organized gathering spot for day laborers that would replace the current unofficial site.

But outside the chambers, the battle lines were evident between advocates and opponents of a publicly funded site. Supporters stood on one side of the street, carrying signs that read "Ignorance Breeds Fear," referring to anti-immigrant sentiment. A crowd gathered on the other side wearing, on their shirts, white paper stars with a slash through the phrase "Day Labor Site." One sign stated: "Start a Revolution and Hire an American."

Inside, the speakers' concerns ranged from human rights to property rights and whether the mission of local government should include enforcement of what many called the failure of federal authorities to police the country's borders.

"Do we want to live in a town full of prejudice, where people like me are not welcome because we have an accent?" asked Ana Rochac, an immigrant from El Salvador who owns a travel agency in town.

Other speakers expressed concern that the value of homes near the 7-Eleven has declined because of the day laborers.

The prospect of spending taxpayer money on a day-laborers' site has polarized Herndon, a Fairfax County town of 22,000 near Dulles International Airport.

With a supply of inexpensive housing and a robust demand for construction workers in Northern Virginia's booming economy, the town has drawn many newcomers from Mexico and Central America. They began gathering in the parking lot to wait for work from contractors.

Town officials -- responding to homeowners who complained about noise, littering and an intimidating presence of up to 150 men every morning -- considered a proposal from Project Hope and Harmony to establish a day-laborer hiring center on the site of a vacated police station abutting a residential neighborhood on the Loudoun County border.

But tensions over using $175,000 in public money to help fund the center exploded this summer at several public hearings.