Arlington Center Offers Hope in Hard Times

"Work?" the laborers eagerly asked every passerby. "You got work?"

Inside, men sat around talking or surfing the Internet on one of the center's two computers, looking for news about El Salvador. Others crowded into the conference room to watch a Spanish movie on television. Many absently fingered the ID cards the center makes for them for $5, showing their names, date of birth, address and work expertise.

"We need to keep them from getting bored," Tobar said.

The men have English-language training, job training classes and other programs. With so little work, the days are long. Tobar called a meeting and asked how the workers were faring. They agreed to talk about their lives on the condition that only their first names be used, as many are not in the country legally.

A man named Ramiro, wearing a blue baseball cap emblazoned with a U.S. flag, handed out his handyman card.

"There's no work," he said in Spanish. The 52-year-old hasn't worked in two months. He has six children in Bolivia who are all in college. He left home five years ago to make enough money to get them through school. Now he has nothing to send.

"I wanted a good life for my children. But now, what can I do?" he asked.

Ramiro is considering returning home, in defeat, if he doesn't get work soon. But he doesn't know how he'll face his family.

One worker blamed the lack of work on the anti-immigrant mood in the country. "People are afraid to hire you if you don't have papers," he said.

He was quickly interrupted. "It doesn't matter if you have papers; there isn't work for anyone," another said.

Another worker, clearly drunk at 9:30 in the morning, was roundly criticized by the others. "If you get the job, you'll ruin it for the rest of us!" one said.

"Who would want to take a drunk to their house?" another scolded. "You'll do a bad job and then [employers] won't come back."