The Hunt for Work Fosters Tension

He was one of two dozen day laborers who stood about 100 yards from the Home Depot door at 7 a.m. Some approached work vans and cars asking if the drivers needed workers.

"It's the only means to find work, and through that, it's the only way to provide for my family back home," Hernandez, a Salvadoran, said through an interpreter. "Work is really bad. Ninety-seven percent of the people don't get it."

According to the Inter-American Development Bank, there were more than 44,000 adult Latin American immigrants in the District in 2006, sending a combined $154 million to their home countries. That population estimate is higher than some; the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that in 2005, the District had about 34,000 people born in Latin America, of all ages.

At the site, a woman with a green cooler sold tacos, burritos, hot chocolate and atol, a Salvadoran corn beverage. Three grocery carts overflowed with garbage bags nearby. The ground was littered with Styrofoam cups, beer bottles and paper plates, a point of contention with the neighbors.

It's a "hotbed issue," said William Shelton, an advisory neighborhood commissioner. "The African American community is a little concerned that if there had been 100 African American men standing on that lot . . . would we allow it for a year or two? Not to be negative, but the community just doesn't understand."

D.C. Council member Harry "Tommy" Thomas Jr. (D-Ward 5) said he plans to quell any problems. He wants to see a multicultural center, with educational programs and a one-stop workforce station to ensure all workers are treated fairly by their employers.

"There's a clash over labor between African Americans and Hispanics," Thomas said. "I hear of the hysteria. . . . They say, 'Why are these guys coming over here looking for work and taking work?' They don't live here."

On Tuesday, Thomas met with a group that included Hernandez, who is president of the Washington D.C. Workers Union, a newly organized group; George Escobar of the city's Office on Latino Affairs; and Ted Loza, chief of staff for council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), whose ward has the city's largest population of Latino residents.

"We have not been prepared to meet with these new emerging communities and the barriers they present," Thomas said. "We have not prepared to deal with the fear of being replaced as a working-class group in this community. I look at this as an opportunity to bring two communities together."

Some of the activists said they recognize the concern but would expect that African Americans would identify with the Hispanic workers.

"To find out that we couldn't work this out would be a problem," Loza said. "I think we have more things in common. . . . The challenge has been a lack of communication."

Raymond Chandler, another advisory neighborhood commissioner, said he understands that the day laborers need work, but doesn't like to see workers sleeping on the shopping center property, goods stashed in the alley near his house, and people urinating on the retaining wall.